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What's been your biggest preflight surprise?

Ed_Wischmeyer

Well Known Member
1. Yesterday was the first flight after a month-long condition inspection. It was great to be in the RV-9A again, to refresh the memory on the avioncis and instrument procedures, etc. The interior had been cleaned, I was glad to be in the air.

This morning was to be an Instrument Proficiency Check in preparation for a ten day trip one state shy of coast to coast, and of course, I did a preflight. Hey, everything was fine yesterday, but let's do the preflight, just because.

Hmm, the right wheel pant is almost touching the hangar floor. Low rider? Nope, just one very flat tire, probably a leaking inner tube. Fortunately the plane wasn't resting on the wheel pant. And if the tire went down that much overnight, probably don't want to fly the plane today.

The tube gets replaced tomorrow.

2. With surgery scheduled for the next day, I wanted to get one more flight in. I knew the Cessna was in great shape, and I just wanted to get in the air. So, yeah, I took out the control lock and did the preflight. When I raised the right elevator by hand, the left elevator stayed down. What the... ??? Then I noticed that the skin on the stabilizer was torn where the elevator had deflected way, way up. Turns out that winds were gusting to 74 knots right up the rear of the Cessna, and rivets had sheared where the elevators connected to the actuator in the tail cone. There was also rudder and aileron damage when I looked closely...

3. Was out waterskiing and saw a fog bank rolling in. Went in, packed in a hurry, got to the Cessna 210 and the oil dipstick was completely dry. What? No oil on the belly, so...?? Turns out that there's a valve somewhere in the engine that had stuck and the oil was hiding in different parts of the engine. The mechanic said that the airplane was safe to fly, but by then the fog bank was all over the airport. And laughing at me.

4. Was taking a real cutie for a flight in a Great Lakes biplane. Because it's cold at altitude, she was dressed warmly in the 90° weather as I helped her with parachute, seat belt and harness, etc. Then I put on my parka, climbed into the back, struggled into my chute and harness. Controls free? Check. Brakes? CLUNK! Brake pedal went straight to the floor on the right side. She did believe me, but it would have been much more fun to go upside down.

So what have been your biggest pre-flight surprises?
 
There was a new Schweizer 1-36 at the gliderport, and it had only flown a few times. I got a quick cockpit checkout, and was going to go up on the ridge. I felt some slop in the aileron linkage when I moved the controls, so I pulled the seatback forward and looked in at the aileron pushrod connections to the bell crank.

At the pushrod connection coming up to the bell crank from below, the castellated nut was off and resting on top of the wheel well, and the washer was dangling on the last thread of the bolt.

I went into the shop and got a cotter pin, put the nut on, inserted the cotter pin, and got ready to go fly.

The real kicker? The slop in the controls had nothing to do with the nearly disconnected aileron link. It was just the normal control play for that glider. Had I been more familiar with the glider, I would have dismissed it as normal and gone flying without having inspected that connection.

When the little voice at my shoulder whispers in my ear, I do my best to listen.
 
I co-owned a Citabria that also worked as a tow plane at the glider port, so it flew several days a week. One weekend I came out to go do some aerobatics, and I noticed a little bit of oil on the ground under the cowl opening. That seemed unusual to me, so I pulled the top cowl off and looked things over.

I traced some fresh-looking oil stains up to the fitting on the crankcase where the line for the oil pressure gauge connects. I grabbed the fitting and B nut to see if everything was tight, and the fitting broke off in my hand. There had been a crack at the root of the pipe threads that had been leaking a little as the crack grew around the circumference of the fitting. It was almost completely cracked through when I grabbed it.

I went into the shop and got a replacement fitting - the one with the small restricted hole, installed the new fitting, put the cowl on, and went flying.

Had I been less familiar with the airplane, I might have assumed that the little oil drip on the ground was normal and dismissed it. It was only because I was familiar enough with the airplane to know that was unusual that I inspected further.

When the little voice at my shoulder whispers in my ear, I do my best to listen.
 
I've encountered the flat tire a couple of times, once just last week.

I was all loaded up to depart for Oshkosh a couple years ago and as I reached for the starter, I automatically applied brakes, and the right pedal went to the floor.

Just before my last annual I fueled up to take a local flight, and as I was doing my final walk-around there was a growing puddle of fuel draining down the right gear leg and on the ground.

More of us than will admit it have gotten in the airplane and reached for the master only to realize it's already on, and the battery is dead.

How many will admit to being belted in, cranked and ready to taxi only to realize the chocks were still in place? I've never EVER done that - as far as any of you guys know. :D
 
Nothing more embarrassing than taxiing over to the fuel pump, getting out, and finding the tow bar still attached to the nose wheel. Happened to a guy I know....
and resulted in a new rule: if the tow bar is attached to the plane, my hand is attached to the tow bar.
 
When sumping the tanks under the wing of the Bonanza, I always take a glance at the gear/wheel well.

Hmmm.... I don't think this cable end is supposed to be dangling here, connected to nothing.
Uplock release cable.
Gear would have retracted just fine, but then stay retracted no matter what I did from the left seat.
 
flew out for pancakes one morning, had breakfast, hopped back in the plane and the left rudder pedal went to the stop and the right was just fine. climbed out and looked down and the cotter pin for the pin holding the cable to the rudder petal was laying in the footwell in two pieces, the pin and the washer were laying right next to it. put it back together with a new cotter pin and went home. those cotter pins get a lot more inspection now. thank god it didn't let loose before landing.

bob burns
RV-4 N82RB
 
I was pulling the prop through on my Dad's RV8 when I heard a faint rattling from inside the spinner. Pulled the spinner and found a handful of plastic debris. Turns out the spinner used a plastic centering ring that slipped over the prop dome. It had gotten old and brittle, and disintegrated.

(Note: I realize that pulling the prop through is controversial. I will not advocate one way or another. I learned to fly in a J3, followed by about 400 hours of radial engine time, so my formative years involved a lot of prop handling. I've been properly trained, and am comfortable doing this. If you are not, don't! I know 2 people that have had engines start on them.)

At work one of our test pilots taught me the "whack test" when preflighting the horizontal stabilizers on our helicopters. He would have me give a gentle whack to the bottom of the stab and note the vibration. I asked him what I should be looking for, and he responded, "You'll know it's wrong when you see it." I did this religiously every time I flew for a few years and then one day I whacked it and the whole tale vibrated kinda funny. I brought one of the mechanics over and sure enough the mounting bolts were undertorqued. A quarter turn on each and it vibrated normally again.
 
We had a trip to the Bahamas late on a Friday afternoon. I asked the wife to meet me at the airport or we would not make it before sunset and the out island strip had no lights. We were taking another couple in my AA-5B Tiger and had made this run many times with four and a weekend bag each.

When I got to the airport with very little time to spare, the wife had already loaded the bags. The volume of baggage seemed about what I was used to, mostly swim suits and tee shirts, I asked her if there was anything heavy in the baggage. She said no, just the normal weekend stuff.

Since we were limited on fuel weight, we always took off with less than half tanks and made a stop before going feet wet to load back to gross weight. The takeoff went fine but the plane seemed a little unstable in pitch.

I landed for fuel and when I shut the motor off at the self serve pump, I was shocked when the plane slowly started to rotate nose up until it clunked down on the tail tie down ring. We climbed out and when I dug into the baggage area, there were two cases of our guests favorite beer under the bags. They were offloaded and left behind and the rest of the weekend went as planned.

The wife looked sheepish and said she guessed that our guests had slipped them in under his bags while she was moving our car.

Trust but verify.....
 
C-172 rental (need I say more?). Came out to preflight and quickly dipped the tanks to see how much fuel I needed so I could call for the fuel truck. Didn't notice anything wrong yet.

Preflighted the whole left side and tail. Then, worked my way inboard to outboard and fwd on the wing.

Only when I walked around the front and looked at the right wing leading edge did I discover that at some point, the right wing had sustained enough damage that it was obviously down.

I got 3rd degree from the manager. But, it was obviously done by someone else and not reported.
 
A friend flew a Pik-20D glider on a 250km cross country flight without securing the main pin.

The trailer dolly that carries the wing root on a lot of gliders is held on by a bolt inserted through the same bushing that carries the main pin when it's rigged.

To prevent the trailer dolly pin from scoring the bushing, it's often sheathed in a piece of rubber hose. When you de-rig, you lower the spar extension over the dolly, located so that the bolt is in the right place, then put a big wing-nut over it to hold it on.

An example from someone's web site:

http://aviation.derosaweb.net/dg101/images/DSC00076_Large.JPG
(the wing in the photo has two main pins. The Pik 20D only has one)

On this fateful day, when my friend had rigged the glider, the piece of rubber hose remained stuck in the starboard wing bushing when he lifted it off the trailer dolly. The starboard spar extension is obscured behind the overlapping port spar extension when the wings are on, so when he pushed the main pin he didn't see that the starboard bushing was blocked by the rubber hose, and by the time he stopped shoving the pin had stopped a couple of inches proud of its normal position.

Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the Pik 20D and didn't think anything of it.

In any case, he applied the safety pin through the handle of the main pin (instead of through the handle and the hole in the decking it's supposed to go through!) so at least it came along for the ride when he went flying.

He aerotow launched and flew 250km without the main pin inserted properly. Both wings were sitting on the spar end spigot pins and the fuselage lift pins. If someone had grabbed them by the tip and pulled hard, they'd have come off. Luckily for him, flight loads were lifty and draggy, not stretchy, so the wings didn't fall off during his flight.

There was nothing holding them on when we derigged him at the end of his flight, though.

Realization turned him white as a sheet with shaking hands. Close call.

- mark
 
I have about 500 hrs in a PIK-20D. I can say that this is indeed possible. The PIK-20, like the Libelle, has spar end pins that engage in the root rib of the other wing. The single wing pin only holds the two wings together. All the bending moment is carried by each spar being pinned into the root rib of the other wing.

We sometimes joke with newcomers that the white vinyl tape that we use to cover the joints is what holds the wings on. In the case described, it is actually true that the wing tape is probably responsible for preventing the wings from walking apart enough for the spar end pins to disengage.

I have heard of this happening a few times on Libelles too.


A friend flew a Pik-20D glider on a 250km cross country flight without securing the main pin.

The trailer dolly that carries the wing root on a lot of gliders is held on by a bolt inserted through the same bushing that carries the main pin when it's rigged.

To prevent the trailer dolly pin from scoring the bushing, it's often sheathed in a piece of rubber hose. When you de-rig, you lower the spar extension over the dolly, located so that the bolt is in the right place, then put a big wing-nut over it to hold it on.

An example from someone's web site:

http://aviation.derosaweb.net/dg101/images/DSC00076_Large.JPG
(the wing in the photo has two main pins. The Pik 20D only has one)

On this fateful day, when my friend had rigged the glider, the piece of rubber hose remained stuck in the starboard wing bushing when he lifted it off the trailer dolly. The starboard spar extension is obscured behind the overlapping port spar extension when the wings are on, so when he pushed the main pin he didn't see that the starboard bushing was blocked by the rubber hose, and by the time he stopped shoving the pin had stopped a couple of inches proud of its normal position.

Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the Pik 20D and didn't think anything of it.

In any case, he applied the safety pin through the handle of the main pin (instead of through the handle and the hole in the decking it's supposed to go through!) so at least it came along for the ride when he went flying.

He aerotow launched and flew 250km without the main pin inserted properly. Both wings were sitting on the spar end spigot pins and the fuselage lift pins. If someone had grabbed them by the tip and pulled hard, they'd have come off. Luckily for him, flight loads were lifty and draggy, not stretchy, so the wings didn't fall off during his flight.

There was nothing holding them on when we derigged him at the end of his flight, though.

Realization turned him white as a sheet with shaking hands. Close call.

- mark
 
I have found the plastic centering ring broken on a C-182. Same curious noise inside the spinner. It was a McCauley propeller, and we found the problem while doing a compression check, one of the few times that we would pull a prop around manually.

I was pulling the prop through on my Dad's RV8 when I heard a faint rattling from inside the spinner. Pulled the spinner and found a handful of plastic debris. Turns out the spinner used a plastic centering ring that slipped over the prop dome. It had gotten old and brittle, and disintegrated.

(Note: I realize that pulling the prop through is controversial. I will not advocate one way or another. I learned to fly in a J3, followed by about 400 hours of radial engine time, so my formative years involved a lot of prop handling. I've been properly trained, and am comfortable doing this. If you are not, don't! I know 2 people that have had engines start on them.)

At work one of our test pilots taught me the "whack test" when preflighting the horizontal stabilizers on our helicopters. He would have me give a gentle whack to the bottom of the stab and note the vibration. I asked him what I should be looking for, and he responded, "You'll know it's wrong when you see it." I did this religiously every time I flew for a few years and then one day I whacked it and the whole tale vibrated kinda funny. I brought one of the mechanics over and sure enough the mounting bolts were undertorqued. A quarter turn on each and it vibrated normally again.
 
Nothing more embarrassing than taxiing over to the fuel pump, getting out, and finding the tow bar still attached to the nose wheel. Happened to a guy I know....
and resulted in a new rule: if the tow bar is attached to the plane, my hand is attached to the tow bar.
That's a good tip! I like to think of my tailwheel tow bar as chocks that sometimes get used as a tow bar.
 
A friend flew a Pik-20D glider on a 250km cross country flight without securing the main pin.

Realization turned him white as a sheet with shaking hands. Close call.

- mark

This is a chilling story, truly with a guardian angel.

It goes to show that a situation happening once (or more) with a successful flight is not proof of its airworthiness.

Good Thread!
 
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That's a good tip! I like to think of my tailwheel tow bar as chocks that sometimes get used as a tow bar.

I sold my 182 to the local flight club in December, and in Feb a training pilot forgot to take off the tow bar and started to taxi, which led to a prop strike, which led to total prop replacement, and engine teardown. Due to parts and labor availability, they still don't have the engine back from the shop yet, 3 months later.
 
I sold my 182 to the local flight club in December, and in Feb a training pilot forgot to take off the tow bar and started to taxi, which led to a prop strike, which led to total prop replacement, and engine teardown. Due to parts and labor availability, they still don't have the engine back from the shop yet, 3 months later.

I was member of a club many years ago and this happened more than once to others. also..... one time I reserved a plane for my family to take to New York. when I did the preflight I noticed the rudder was crushed at the aft upper trailing edge. apparently the previous flyer didn't raise the door high enough and made the collision but didn't feel the need to mention it to anyone. if you rent or are in a club, you need to be especially aware during preflight.
 
Oh yes

More of us than will admit it have gotten in the airplane and reached for the master only to realize it's already on, and the battery is dead.

I've done that so many times they should just name that scenario after me.
 
Let's see;
have taken off with pitot cover on
left dipstick loose and rolled the airplane (what a fn mess)
not really preflight but is now! was teaching competition spins in a rental Citabria and had the stick break off in my hand while vertical down, "your airplane!!!"
I could go on, but let me some for the rest of yas
 
I forgot to pull the wheel chocks.............

Figured it out after I had already contacted the tower to taxi......
 
Yeah, Me Too.

I've forgotten the wheel chocks with Young Eagles in the airplane. Twice. That's embarrassing.
 
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Remnants of a hurricane came through Atlanta in '96 (?). My Tomahawk was tied down outside with everything as secure as possible. Went to check on the airplane after the storm and everything appeared normal.

Except the constant drip-drip-drip of water from the bottom rudder fairing. The drain hole had become mostly plugged and the rudder fairing was full of water. Probably close to a gallon back there. Not only was that a W&B issue, but rudder balance was shot to heck.
 
More of us than will admit it have gotten in the airplane and reached for the master only to realize it's already on, and the battery is dead.


While working/building my 9A, I noticed a few times after working on the panel stuff, I'd left the master on. So, I installed a green pilot light on the panel right between, and above the PFD and the MFD.
 
So many Master-left-on stories

When I bought my first aircraft over three decades ago, an old timer taught me to always leave the beacon/strobe on. You can't not-see it when you get out. I've never missed a flight or killed a battery thanks to him. Hopefully now someone else will benefit from his simple and sage advise; if so equipped.

The aforementioned guy (A Charles Taylor award winner) will be 94 in a couple of months. Paid him a visit yesterday.
 
Locked Servo. Missed on preflight.

I'll tell you what I missed on preflight - free controls. My roll servo got water in it and froze up in the OSH rain flood a couple of years ago. I was at 100 ft before I realized there was limited roll via the stick. I grabbed it with both hands and pushed, breaking the shear pin. The water had corroded the armature and stator creating a rust bridge in the servo motor and it was locked. I was only feeling the backlash.

I was feeling mighty stupid at 100 ft and only being able to hold level with a tiny movement of the stick.
 
Nothing more embarrassing than taxiing over to the fuel pump, getting out, and finding the tow bar still attached to the nose wheel. Happened to a guy I know....
and resulted in a new rule: if the tow bar is attached to the plane, my hand is attached to the tow bar.


Better one
Saw a Cessna 206 land with the tow bar attached.
Could not believe that one.

Boomer
 
When I bought my first aircraft over three decades ago, an old timer taught me to always leave the beacon/strobe on. You can't not-see it when you get out. I've never missed a flight or killed a battery thanks to him. Hopefully now someone else will benefit from his simple and sage advise; if so equipped.

Challenge accepted! :eek: I do this, but one time I was late to a business meeting so maybe more in a hurry when I was leaving the airport, bright summer day parked outside. Drove back up maybe 90 min. later to see the led strobes blinking away, starter got the prop around two or three blades but no luck on the start. Lucky for me the airport had a charger and I was up and going 30 minutes later but embarrassing none the less.
 
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Visited some friends in another state, airplane people. I was working through the preflight and the guy was talking away. It was a little distracting. Got near the end and he'd opened a cowl access door to discuss something inside. I closed the door and told him that when someone's doing a preflight, don't mess with things.

He was an instructor pilot with a major airline....

Now, before climbing in, I step back a ways and walk around briefly making sure that everything's closed that needs to be closed and no bits and pieces are dangling. It's the very last thing before getting into the cockpit. That dude scared me.

Dave
 
My first week of being an instructor, had a gentleman come in with his teenage daughter for a Discovery flight.

I had already prepped the airplane for them, so we loaded up. Dad is in the back of the 172, she's in the pilot seat, and I am walking her through the start up procedure. She does fine, we get the motor started, and I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Aren't we still tied down?" Dad asks.

Yes. Yes we were. So I have her shut down the airplane, I get out, humiliated, and untie the airplane. As I get back in, I look at them, smile sheepishly, and say, "Bet this instills a ton of confidence, huh?"

They both laughed, and it was a nice flight.

Never saw either of them again. I deserved that one.
 
More of us than will admit it have gotten in the airplane and reached for the master only to realize it's already on, and the battery is dead.


While working/building my 9A, I noticed a few times after working on the panel stuff, I'd left the master on. So, I installed a green pilot light on the panel right between, and above the PFD and the MFD.

Since I have no avionics master, all my panels will stay on if the Master is on, which is hard to miss. Especially since it's a checklist item on shutdown ("Master Switch - OFF").

Last thing I do when leaving the airplane, too, is a quick check that the cockpit is "dark".

Wheel chocks? Uh....well.... :)
 
Years ago the local flight school used to take the wings off a 150 and take it to the local shoping mall and advertised flight training.
When they took the plane back to the airport and put it on the line, (minus wings) the student was told to go and do the preflight.

When buckling up and getting ready for engine start his attention was drawn to the lack of wings.......
 
Visited some friends in another state, airplane people. I was working through the preflight and the guy was talking away. It was a little distracting. Got near the end and he'd opened a cowl access door to discuss something inside. I closed the door and told him that when someone's doing a preflight, don't mess with things.

He was an instructor pilot with a major airline....

Now, before climbing in, I step back a ways and walk around briefly making sure that everything's closed that needs to be closed and no bits and pieces are dangling. It's the very last thing before getting into the cockpit. That dude scared me.

Dave
When I take somebody up for a flip I tell them beforehand that I'm about to do the pre-flight and not to talk since it takes concentration. My rule is that if somebody asks me a question or start talking when I'm busy with the pre-flight, I have to start all over again. If you don't pay attention during pre-flight, it could kill you and your pax.
 
Years ago the local flight school used to take the wings off a 150 and take it to the local shoping mall and advertised flight training.
When they took the plane back to the airport and put it on the line, (minus wings) the student was told to go and do the preflight.

When buckling up and getting ready for engine start his attention was drawn to the lack of wings.......

This one gets my vote for the winner!
 
I had a Cessna 150, and just after liftoff I heard the worst banging noise. Thought the engine was going to fall off of the aircraft. Pulled power, slipped down, landed uneventful. Found the seatbelt hanging out the door. It was banging on the side of the fuselage.

Seat belt check makes me think of that day every time.
 
Night flight in winter

Heard rattle taxing down snowy taxiway years ago in Denver. My instructor and I stopped and saw our tow bar still attached. Ouch.
 
Went to give the windscreen a quick clean with Plexus - you know the one with the white cap. Not paying enough attention - it turned out what I grabbed was a rattle can of white paint. Moved pretty quick to get that shot of white paint off!

Edit: Yep - delivered a few choice words!
 
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Relatively mundane: The prior RV-7's oil door wasn't spring loaded. I occasionally forgot to re-engage the CAMLOCs after checking the oil. Oil door would open and wave at me as soon as I started to run-up the engine...
 
Went to give the windscreen a quick clean with Plexus - you know the one with the white cap. Not paying enough attention - it turned out what I grabbed was a rattle can of white paint. Moved pretty quick to get that shot of white paint off!

That would have generated some explicatives!
 
Tied down in Ohio in the spring an hour before dark. The next morning, two birds flew away from my inlet as I approached the plane. Dung on the inlet and a nest complete and ready for eggs between 1 and 4 cylinders.

Parked at Shelter Cove. Didn't realize I was directly downhill from a bar that had a band that night. Some drunken idiot ran down the hill in the dark and bent my elevator trailing edge. I hope it hurt.

Ed Holyoke
 
Natural Hazards

Tied down in Ohio in the spring an hour before dark. The next morning, two birds flew away from my inlet as I approached the plane. Dung on the inlet and a nest complete and ready for eggs between 1 and 4 cylinders.

My Grumman Cheetah, the model with the hinged cowling that provided me a complete (almost) engine access for my preflight inspection was tied down for about a week on the ramp while awaiting hangar space. Everything looked OK until about 10th minutes after takeoff When smoke and fumes filled up the cabin causing me to open the sliding canopy, shut off the master switch and fuel and make a landing at a private runway, luckily within gliding distance.
Inspection revealed a hole burned thru the fiberglass nose bowl caused by a large bird nest built on the exhaust crossover that passes thru the lower forward engine compartment.
 
Came to the aeroplane and found this.

Thanks to the visiting aerobatic crowd, someone had stabbed my prop with his ironmongery on his wing tip.

Cost me $2500

IMG_1717.JPG
 
Started the airplane to a lot of smoke and oil all over the belly. Turbo lookedike this when we investigated
 

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