... my instructor, in his infinite wisdom, said "the first thing I do when walking up to the aircraft is to look for large missing parts."
Mike excellent point needing a list of common failures that could get caught at pre-flight... and the missing big pieces is for the walk up not the walk round/inspection and in answer to your wipe if off question yep.. I learned that way and so did Molly with a different instructor so yes in my experience there is good instruction out there.I often wonder why people do preflights, I watch them do them, and like you say they would only notice something big missing....
my other pet peeve is those clear plexi inspection panels on cubs.... do a good annual, there nothing in there that needs attention more than once a year....
now does anyone teach the new students to bend over and wipe the crud of the gear attach fittings and see if the are about to crack off and add to you excitement and $$... no...
we need a list of common fail items as a good/relevent preflight list???
I think this is an excellent idea. Best source of "common failures" would be all you airplane fixers! It's one thing to do a preflight, quite another to know what to look for. I'm quite familiar with all my plane's parts, but don't know the common failures.Mike excellent point needing a list of common failures that could get caught at pre-flight.
worn lower lift strut attach bolt holes on fuselage? the sound radiates up strut and sounds like its up in wing.... grab wing tip AT SPARS and shake up and down with someone watching fork at bottom...
It seems to only happen after hitting draft in flight. This time it was after leveling from right turn onto a right downwind for landing. It was turbulent that day. The other time I heard it I was riding a wave over/past a mountain top. I'll have my mechanic check the bolts too. I want to put in tie down brackets so might as well do this at the same time. Thanks.
Any one know what to look for to determine what is making loud clunk noise in the left wing of PA-11? I have heard it a few times while cruising. I have checked the struts and they seem fine. Is there something that can be hitting the fuel tank?
Thanks,
Dave
....
Loosen the nuts on the strut attach bolts, both ends. .....
The Cub has only been baby'd so it hasn't been in any unusual conditions. I didn't let Joe or John do any loops in it. However, Glenn did ferry it over from NY to MA when I bought it, and he had a huge grin on when I saw him.
Dave, ask the mechanic if he's missing any tools. Most of your problems seem to start after he fixes stuff. He may have left something behind
This needs to get fixed before we do spin training!
Rene