Safety: Preflight After Maintenance

Welcome to the Safety Section of the Flying Clubs Newsletter, Club Connector!

Each month we provide resources for flying club safety officers so that they can keep their clubs informed and safe.   We also include links to slides that we use for our own club meetings, so that you always have a topic for your club’s next safety meeting.  Along with the slides, we often provide links to relevant articles, videos, and other media that you may also find useful.

Before we get to this month’s Topic of the Month, I’d like to remind you about a new WINGS course that is available on faasafety.gov.  The course offers 10 modules on “Human Factors: The Final Frontier” and is well worth taking.

Log into faasafety.gov, go to activities-> courses-> all available courses and scroll to find these ALC codes—one per module:  ALC-730, 731, 732, 826, 827, 828, 829, 830.

Click here to view modules 1 and 2.  

Alright then, let’s get on with this month’s safety topic!

Topic of the Month Slides: Preflight After Maintenance

Note:  I'll be presenting this topic in a webinar on Tuesday 26th September.
Register here:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3500390252849016149


Background: 

The General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have determined that a significant number of general aviation fatalities could be avoided if pilots were to conduct more thorough preflight inspections of aircraft that have just been returned to service.

Learning Points:

• Responsibility – all yours…
• Participate in, or observe your mechanic perform maintenance and inspections
• Educate yourself—know your aircraft
• Know what “airworthy” really means
• Learn all you can about the maintenance that was performed
• Don’t assume the part(s) replaced are the only parts removed
• Peek behind inspection panels to know what hides there
• Pay attention to control positions. Unimpeded and correct direction?  Requires thought!
• Make sure all inspection panels are secure and their fasteners are tight
• Check fuel tank for water, sediment, and proper fuel grade
• Always check the engine oil level
• Always check the logbooks and paperwork prior to flight to ensure the records have been entered…but even then, doesn't mean that they are correct…

References:

• NTSB Safety Alert — Advanced Preflight After Maintenance: https://go.usa.gov/cK7Py
• FAA’s Advanced Preflight Pamphlet: https://go.usa.gov/xVy44
• “Advanced Preflight,” FAA Safety Briefing, Mar/Apr 2012: https://go.usa.gov/cK7ma
• 2023, Q4 CFI Open Forum – Foundation of an Advanced Preflight:https://bit.ly/3TkizhC

Other Safety Resources:

Here is a quick reminder of just some of the resources available to all pilots:

FAASTeam:

faasafety.gov:

The FAASTeam website is the portal to a vast array of courses, videos, links, and much more.  Remember that WINGS not only encompasses “knowledge” activities, but also flight activities.  Use the various search options to narrow done, to, say flight activities for a basic phase of WINGS and you’ll be able to find a syllabus and often a worksheet for each flight activity.

Don’t forget to regularly visit these FAA gems:

Pilot Minute

57 Seconds To Safer Flying

FAA Safety Briefing Magazine

From the Flight Deck

AOPA Air Safety Institute:

https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/air-safety-institute

AOPA’s own Air Safety Institute, which by the way, is funded by the AOPA Foundation just like the Flying Clubs Initiative, is packed with amazing content, including exceptional videos, podcasts, accident analysis, online courses, recorded webinars and more.  Completing these activities may also earn WINGS credits.  Of particular interest to flying club safety officers is the recently updated Safety to Go section.  There, you can download a selection of topics, each coming with PowerPoint slides and speaker’s notes!

WINGS for Clubs:

If you are interested in using the FAASTeam WINGS program with your flying club, feel free to contact Steve, who is a Lead Representative and WINGSPro, and used the program in his club.  More on WINGS for Clubs can be found here in Flying Clubs Radio Episode 8 and the May 2020 Question of the Month.