Plane Ownership & Complacency

[Mel]

Originally Posted by SMO

Certainly agree with this. I sump my tanks before every flight but have never found water - 200 hours on the Rocket, 100 hours on the Decathlon, 100 hours on the RV-4, and many rental planes before that. And I rarely fill the tanks more than 1/2 full.

But I still sump the tanks before flight - whenever I get thinking it is a waste of time I tell myself "it only takes once to make for a bad day".

THIS is the correct attitude!

[RV7A Flyer]

Seems as though once could bifurcate this discussion.

First branch: the pilots who essentially skip *any* preflight because it's their plane, they were the last one to fly it, they know how much fuel it has, blah blah blah. Seems like maybe the subject of the OP was one of those.

Second branch: Guys who do a preflight, but either do part of it the night before or abbreviate their preflight the day of the flight.

I won't comment on the first group, as I think that's just a dangerous attitude to take and not worth discussing here.

As to the second...I have to ask: what's the hurry? I can do a good preflight on my 7A in a few minutes, it's not an hour-long task. Just get to the airport 10 minutes earlier, or take off 10 minutes (at most) later, and do the job right.

We're not in combat here. No reason to rush things and increase risk, IMO.

I'm never in a hurry around airplanes.

[precession]

On a related topic: While working for my private pilot's license, my instructor had me fly to another airport, where we parked on the ramp before going into the FBO. We were in there for maybe a half hour, probably to use the facilities and maybe for some food/drink.

When we came out, after un-chocking, I was ready to get in the plane and go (no walk around check). After all, we had done a full pre-flight before leaving that morning, the plane operated perfectly on the way there, and we knew how much fuel we'd burned (no need for more).

My instructor stopped me and said, "what about the guy that taxied into the plane while we were inside and left because he didn't want responsibility for the damage?"

"I didn't think of that," I said. Sounded to me like something that could happen. I always do a walk around inspection before departing when the plane has been out of my sight on a public ramp for any length of time.

[N269SD]

I?ve seen Axel hop in his plane and race it without so much as a glance around it. Worked out fine for him

[flightlogic]

I actually do agree with OP..... but, you actually don't know what you don't know. There are places to check dual ignition... other than at the runway threshold. There may be hours spent inspecting things. In a closed hangar. Out of view. I would need much more evidence of sloppy practice... before I went out in public and ranted about someone's safety. I fly off a field absolutely filled with students. Every day! When I see six of them up ahead in the run-up area, I have been known to check mags while rolling. Then I go to the head of the line and call the tower. If I don't I may just be another half hour waiting for students to get going. And overheat my cylinders on the ground. Anyway, I make a habit of refraining from judgement most days. Benefit of the doubt is an almost lost concept, I think.

[AX-O]

Originally Posted by N269SD

I?ve seen Axel hop in his plane and race it without so much as a glance around it. Worked out fine for him

That is because you were the only one allowed to touch/pre-flight the plane. But you do make a good point.

[kgood]

My $.02 - I totally agree that it's so important to be reminded regularly to keep from getting complacent.

Here's another perspective: Many years ago, my dad was in a serious accident in his Cessna 180, with severe injuries to himself and two passengers. As you might imagine, there as a pretty hefty lawsuit filed against him by one of the injured passengers. During the course of the lawsuit, his "regular" practices were brought up many times. The plaintiffs attorney grilled him and myself (because I regularly flew with him and knew his practices) over and over again about our preflights and other habits. It was a long and difficult battle. Let me just say that I learned the hard way that the next time (heaven forbid) that I'm in that situation I need to be able to say that I ALWAYS sump the tanks, check prop condition, control continuity, etc, before EVERY FLIGHT. I was able to say that with conviction during the lawsuit and it ended favorably. It is something I have never forgotten.
Kurt Goodfellow

[Mark_H]

I have to agree with 9GT.

I guess doing your walk around the night before and leaving it in a locked hangar is one thing. Checking oil, sumping tanks, run ups and the rest of the checklist I would never do the night before and call it good.