Right Seat – Flight Instructor Corner
Aircraft Ground Operations
By: Steve Boothby CFI, CFII, MEI
We spend so much of our time training and focusing on flying, from take-off, maneuvers, cockpit management, emergency procedures, navigation, and the ever elusive perfect landing, that we can often neglect or simply fall out of practice on good ground operating procedures. Let’s take a moment to refresh our memories on some simple but important aspects of pre and post flight ops.
Checklists are an important part of aviation. Most in-flight lists should be committed to memory as much as possible, but ground operations lists can safely be used as to-do lists. That is, read the first item and then do it. Then read the next item and do it. If you get interrupted while performing an item, go back to the top of the list and review each item until you get to the one you were on. This will ensure you don’t miss anything.
When checking fuel levels, don’t just eyeball it. Use a calibrated fuel stick. If you’re flying and your wing comes off, well, it was your time to go. But if you run out of fuel, that was your fault. After checking the oil level, you don’t need to practice for your upcoming arm wresting contest to re-seat the dipstick. Just finger tight will do. The heat build-up during flight will expand the o-ring and ensure a tight seal. Otherwise, the next pilot likely will need a pair of pliers, or a very large friend, to break the seal loose. They may break the tie wire and the dipstick can become loose!
Posted November 2nd, 2010
