Sport Pilot Talk

Well my plane is going for it's first annual under my ownership. (245 hours TT. Third annual for the aircraft itself.) Not quite sure of what to expect. Also have that pesky but necessary carb float SB to attend to. I have heard that flying after an annual is statistically a most risky time and requires lots of caution. What should I expect and what precautions should be taken?

I had a condition inspection yesterday. We found a leaking coolant hose, a new hose replaced after 5 years.

Last year the 5 year replacement cost me plenty and resulted in a power loss on take off. Not only did my fuel system get polluted with rubber debris, in addition my propeller was installed without aligning it correctly with the spinner bulkhead and the bulkhead cut a slice into all 3 prop blades at the root.

Other than the hose and prop issues my 7 annual condition inspections have been pretty painless but the one that went sour cost me $7k to recover from.

In 30 years of working on airplane I can remember a few times that there were issues after the annual, but in most cases there are no issues. Do a really thorough preflight inspection. If any controls are unhooked make sure that they are operating in the correct direction before flight, and not just moving with the control stick. Do a normal run up, and on take off check to make sure the engine is turning up like it should. Don't worry to much about the float issue. One of the methods is weighing the float, which requires removal of the float bowl. Removal of the float bowl is already an item on the Rotax 100/annual inspection checklist.

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Jeez! The annual sounds counterproductive!

The only post annual issue I've had in my six inspections with my Sting was last year when my old perfectly good fuel pump was replaced due to a mandatory SB. The new one failed within 4 months and I replaced with another new style for $100.

designrs wrote:Jeez! The annual sounds counterproductive!

The number of serious safety issues I have found during a annual inspections far out way any issues that Airplanes I have worked on have had after the inspections.

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designrs wrote:Well my plane is going for it's first annual under my ownership. (245 hours TT. Third annual for the aircraft itself.) Not quite sure of what to expect. Also have that pesky but necessary carb float SB to attend to. I have heard that flying after an annual is statistically a most risky time and requires lots of caution. What should I expect and what precautions should be taken?

I always make my mechanic join me, for the first flight after an Annual.

It tends to cause your mechanic to a complete final check, before he signs off.

CTLSi wrote:They put in too much oil also in mine. The plane is back in the shop and getting 5 things tweeked and fixed, JUST AFTER THE ANNUAL.

This is fairly typical when you have an annual performed by an A&P/IA who hasn't taken Rotax-specific training. (50 years experience working with Lycomings and Continentals is meaningless when the plane in question is Rotax powered.) One may think of an LSRM as a lower rating, but a Rotax certified LSRM is far better prepared to work on most LSAs than is the most experienced IA.

BrianL99 wrote:I always make my mechanic join me, for the first flight after an Annual.

I never let anybody else fly a plane after I've worked on it, before I test-fly it myself. If the owner wants to come along, fine. If not, I fly it solo. Knowing it's going to be me up there on the test flight tends to make me all the more thorough.

My first observation is that Paul is the exception that proves the rule. A conscientious owner IMO needs to assume the worst about the a/c's condition after an AI, even tho' it's also true that more discrepancies are found than caused during the AI (which is hardly a glowing thought). And the problems caused don't necessarily appear immediately, as was already noted. One missing cotter pin from a castellated nut, on reassembly of throttle control linkage buried where I couldn't see it, left me with a power loss above a South Carolina barrier island that was uninhabited and not connected to the mainland. And that was after 3 hours of test flying and then part of a family trip to NC from FL, the time it took for the nut to back off.

I don't know a complete solution to this problem exists and wish it did, Richard. But here are a couple of (mostly mental) points I'd offer:
-- before flying away, review with the mechanic all the major work done. This preloads your thinking when something then fails.
-- redefine mentally your preflight & run-up regimen. Your goal is to methodically search for the work discrepancy you know is buried somewhere. Having a small, intensely bright flashlight is a very useful tool when doing the preflight. (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... zh3l9vwf_b)
-- assuming you can't find it, do a few bounces/taxi-backs in the local pattern, thinking the discrepancy may well surface then.
-- do an unusually thorough inspection after that first flight when you get the plane back to its home. Use that flashlight again.

I have owned 9 or so aircraft since 1974. Except for my current plane, all were "traditional" aircraft and all were used. I always had a good working relationship with the shop, none were owner assist, and I don't know of any problems with any of them caused by the inspection. So, it is possible to find good shops and mechanics.

My current airplane has always been worked on and inspected by the least experienced mechanic of any who have worked on my planes - me. And, no problems. At least that I know about, or that I will admit! However, the plane was new when I got it and I know my limits. I should probably be thinking about having somebody else do the next annual.

Some years back, AOPA used to have a Preflight Inspection Contest at their (then annul) Fredrick MD Open House. (something I sincerely hope will once again become an annual event). They would spend some time sabotaging a Cessna 150, and competitors would, one at a time, go over it armed with just a clipboard and a predlight inspection checklist. The things we found (and didn't find) were very revealing. It ingrained in us a healthy awareness of what to look for after maintenance ( and, perhaps, an unhealthy mistrust of mechanics). Think "that mechanic just sabotaged my plane, and I need to find out how before I fly it."

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