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New Aviator DISCOVERING THE JOY OF FLIGHT
Used Airplanes: How Do You Know What’s Safe
Let’s face it, not everyone can fly a brandnew, Avidyne-equipped airplane. Many pilots—especially student and newly-minted pilots—will wind renting aircraft that are more than a few years old.
Older airplanes are generally safe, because of careful maintenance regulations and the fear among aircraft owners that ignoring a defect will result in losing the airplane, and potentially a huge lawsuit.
But not every owner is as careful as they should be, and not all airplanes that are on the rental line are safe. The problem is made more complicated by the fact that an experienced eye is often needed to tell whether something is a safety issue or simply a cosmetic problem. And new pilots often don’t have that experience.
So how do you tell the worn but trusted aircraft from a tired bucket of bolts that could fall out of the sky at any minute? How do you know if that funny smell inside the airplane is a sign of years of neglect, or a simple leaky window that was faithfully repaired years ago?
There are many ways to check the safety of an airplane you plan to fly, and some of the most important steps should be taken before you ever get into the airplane.
Richard Orentzel, Chief Flight Instructor at Panorama Flight Service in White Plains, New York, says you should check out the reputation of the facility you’ll be renting from as well as the reputation of the shop that does maintenance on their airplanes. If a company is in financial trouble, or if their mechanic works out of a car or goes from hangar to hangar, you can’t be sure the airplanes are being maintained
properly.
“The reputation of the company is very important,” he says, noting that the company should be willing to take an airplane off the line for safety issues. “The problem with a small place, there’s not a lot of witnesses to what happens, and you’re really taking someone’s word [that the airplane is safe].”
Steve Korotky, Chief Flight Instructor at Ocean Aire in Tom’s River, New Jersey, agrees that the reputation of the place you rent from is important, as well as how they treat the airplanes.
“There are things you can look at on the airplane that tell how the person takes care of it. For example, is the airplane properly tied down, does it have cowl plugs put into it, are the doors locked…those kinds of things will give you at least an indication of the owner, what their personality is, and if they’re going to take extra steps to protect the airplane.”
Once you’ve selected a reputable rental organization, ask to see the maintenance logs for the airplanes you are considering renting. “Any flight school that’s worth anything should allow a renter access to their maintenance logs because that’s the only true way of determining whether an airplane is airworthy or not,” Korotky says.
Orentzel says check the inspections. The logbooks should indicate a current annual inspection, potentially 100-hour inspections, and a twoyear pitot-static check, as well as routine maintenance, all of which should be in the log books. Also look for squawks that have been repaired as part of the airplane’s normal maintenance, because a lack of maintenance entries could indicate an airplane that’s not being maintained or not being flown.
“If an airplane is being used heavily, it’s not going to run between inspections without needing service,” Orentzel says. “You’re looking for entries in between the inspections.”
One good indicator of quality maintenance is to find out whether the aircraft owner complied with manufacturer’s service bulletins, Orentzel says. Service bulletins are not mandatory, so if the owner has a record of service bulletins and has maintained the airplane in accordance with them, it’s more likely the airplane is being maintained in a safe manner than if the owner only complied with mandatory airworthiness directives.
Both Orentzel and Korotky say the airplanes should be clean and reasonably well-painted. While the airplane does not have to have a new paint job or fresh interior, torn seats, broken seat belts, doors that won’t close, or chipped paint and cracked windshields are all indicators of an airplane that is not being cared for, which may mean its maintenance is not up to snuff.
Keep in mind that many of the things that can make an airplane unsafe can’t be found during even the most thorough pre-flight. You need to rely on the belief that the owner of the airplane is having it maintained and inspected in a safe manner. So while none of these cosmetic factors will alone make the airplane unsafe, they do give you insight into how the airplane is being maintained, and you should weigh that insight in your decision whether to go fly the airplane or not.
So when you’re being shown the airplane for your checkout, be wary of avionics issues that have not been repaired. In general, equipment that is installed in the airplane should work. If there are holes in the panel where non-working equipment has been removed and not repaired or replaced, that could be a sign that the aircraft owner can’t afford proper maintenance.
Radios should work, period. If something is installed in the panel of the airplane, it should work, or, if the airplane has a minimum equipment list, then those items should work.
Orentzel notes that there is a procedure for failed equipment that involves placarding equipment as inoperative and if it’s removed from the airplane, re-calculating the airplane’s weight and balance without the equipment. If the company is not following that policy, chances are they are cutting corners elsewhere as well.
If everything looks good, give the airplane a very thorough preflight. Small dents in the skin of an airplane may not be a big deal, but big dents and certainly any wrinkles you find should be addressed by a qualified mechanic.
Dennis Wolter, owner of Air Mod in Cincinnati, Ohio, specializes in restoring old airplanes and he’s an expert at what can go wrong with them.
He says that wrinkles in and of themselves do not make an airplane unsafe, but they do indicate that the airframe has been stressed beyond its limits.
Since most new pilots are not in a position to tell if the over-stressing has made the airframe unsafe, it’s wise to consult with a qualified mechanic, or just don’t fly the airplane.
Wolter says it’s important to thoroughly preflight an unfamiliar airplane not only to make sure it’s safe, but also to ensure you don’t get blamed for damage done by someone else.
“It’s common that if someone knowingly does something to the airplane, once they get the airplane back home, they normally don’t tell the person they rented it from,” Wolter says. “If it seems like it’s running OK, they just don’t say anything and leave because once another person flies it, they’re off the hook.”
As an example, Wolter said a pilot at a local flight school discovered during a pre-flight that the elevator on the Cessna 150 he was about to fly was bent. The school owner confronted the last pilot to fly the airplane about the damage, and the pilot admitted that he had gotten the nosewheel stuck in the mud and had a friend push down on the elevator to free the nose wheel. The airplane didn’t appear to have any damage, so the renter just taxied back to the tie-down area and never told anyone about the incident.
Had the second pilot flown the aircraft, he might have been hurt because of the elevator damage, or he might have been blamed for it.
Another illustration came from Wolter’s own Cessna 172. During maintenance to the airplane, Wolter discovered that it had a bent firewall and a replacement cowling, rather than the original cowling. He knew the rental company that he had purchased the airplane from, and after talking with them, learned that years before, a renter had flown the airplane to New Mexico and unexpectedly kept it for an extra two weeks.
After some investigation, Wolter discovered that the airplane had been damaged on landing in New Mexico, and the renter had hired a local mechanic to make repairs so he could fly it home, but never told the rental company about the damage.
As a result, the airplane logbooks were never updated to reflect the repairs, and no one who had flown the airplane in the years since had realized it was ever damaged.
“New pilots are told to check the oil, make sure there’s no bird nests in the cowling, and that’s pretty much what they do,” Wolter says.
But that’s not enough. New pilots should carefully check the airplane for seemingly minor issues that could turn major in the air, and question things they don’t understand.
For example, Wolter says he examines the belly of an unfamiliar airplane for excessive oil leaks. An oil leak that the maintenance shop hasn’t been able to find could be a sign of a crack in the crank case, which could turn ugly if not properly repaired.
“Sometimes messy can be a serious problem,” he says.
There are a number of engine-related problems that even a beginner can spot if you know where to look. Wolter’s experienced eye can quickly spot problems inside the engine cowling, and he has a list of places to check.
First, check between the fins on engine cylinders for dark spots, which could indicate a cracked cylinder, something that could cause the cylinder to fail in the air.
Check the exhaust system and pay particular attention to the joint where the exhaust pipe meets the engine block. Beige or white powder around the joint indicates an exhaust leak that could lead to a in-flight fire if the exhaust pipe breaks. You should also bang on the exhaust pipe and make sure there is nothing rattling inside, another indicator of potential in-flight damage, Wolter says.
Another thing to check is the connection where the throttle control cable links up to the throttle arm or the fuel controller. Make sure that there is a nut with a cotter pin holding it in so that the throttle control won’t work loose, Wolter says. Also check to make sure the oil filter has been safety-wired to prevent it from coming loose. It’s a small detail, but an important one and it shows good maintenance practices.
Check the induction system, where the fuel line comes into the carburetor, for blue or green stains from fuel leakage. In fact, any fuel stains anywhere near the fuel lines is a sign that you shouldn’t fly the airplane, because it means fuel is leaking, a condition that could cause a fire or in-flight engine failure, Wolter says.
Another leak to be wary of is oil leaking from a magneto, he says. Eventually, the oil can build up on the magneto, causing it to short out.
A good way to check engine cylinder compression is get into the airplane, leave the mixture on full lean, put the throttle half-open, and crank the engine. There should be four or six even pulses as the starter moves each cylinder; if the starter seems to race through one of the cylinders, there is no compression in that cylinder, which means you shouldn’t fly the airplane.
Check the landing gear and tires; remember to roll the airplane a few feet forward from its tiedown spot so you can see the whole tire, then move to the other side of the airplane and roll it back, so you can check all three tires completed.
Make sure there is plenty of pad left on the brakes, and look for flat spots on the tires. A flat spot may not make the airplane unsafe, but you should point it out to the aircraft owner before you fly it so you don’t wind up paying for someone else’s bad landing technique.
Wolter notes one good indication of how well maintained the airplane is can be found on the nose wheel. If you notice chafing on the sides of the nose wheel, that usually indicates a nose wheel shimmy that hasn’t been taken care of. Nose wheel shimmies are fairly common, but they can lead to stress and damage to the airplane, so a careful owner will take care of the problem long before it shows up on the tire.
Before draining the fuel sumps, Wolter suggests shaking the airplane a little so that any water or debris that are in the tanks will be knocked loose and show up in your test cup. A lot of water in the fuel means the seals on the fuel caps aren’t tight, a sign of poor maintenance. Any debris in the fuel is a sign of real neglect. “Don’t fly it and don’t let anybody who rents airplanes talk you into it. The debris comes from corrosion and stuff growing in the airplanes because it’s so contaminated,” he says.
Check for corrosion on hinges for the control surfaces, and make sure that any cracks in the plastic have been drilled out to prevent expansion. Be cautious of any plastic components that might break loose in flight, particularly on Cessna’s the plastic where the strut attaches to the wing. This fitting is close to the fuel vent, and if part of it broke loose in flight and blocked the fuel vent, that could interrupt fuel flow to the engine, causing a big problem.
Interestingly enough, a smelly airplane isn’t necessarily an unsafe airplane. There are a number of airplane models that are famous for having leaking window seals, which can cause water to get into the fabric and mildew, and that causes the airplane to stink.
Wolter, who specializes in removing corrosion from water-damaged airplanes, says corrosion damage can take years to develop, and it will usually be spotted before it becomes a structural threat. As long as the water leak has been repaired and the wet fabrics removed and replaced, the aircraft shouldn’t suffer any damage that would make it unsafe or un-airworthy.
During your walk-around on the ground, be sure and move all of the control surfaces to make sure they move smoothly, and during your run-up, remember to check that control surfaces are free and correct. Any rubbing or binding is cause not to fly the airplane. Squeaks mean the pulleys need lubrication, but if they move without binding, you should be OK.
Of course, if there’s something you’re not sure about, don’t be afraid to ask a pilot friend, your instructor or a mechanic for a second opinion.
And if you really don’t feel comfortable, just don’t fly the airplane.
Remember that once you take off, you’re responsible for bringing the airplane safely back to the ground. Don’t let an FBO or flight school tell you something is safe or is not a problem if you feel it’s a problem. After all, it only takes an accident to prove them wrong, and that’s not something you want you, or your passengers, to have to go through.
—Sean Fulton
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