So we have our DAR scheduled "very soon” to come and take a look at Junior to see if the little RV-3 is ready for flight. Of course, Louise and I have been “head’s down” on the project through two years of building, and I am a firm believer in getting into a different mind-set (inspecting versus building), and also getting numerous sets of eyes on the project before flight. So yesterday we got back from a Thanksgiving trip and got ready to start a “preliminary to the preliminary to the inspection. Every system – control, fluid, power, avionics – from end to end. As we got started, we happened upon our neighbor, a multiple-offender builder who was at the top of my list for our “pre-inspection (not to be confused with the pre-pre-inspection…), and he had a couple of hours free – so he grabbed his checklist and inspection mirror and all three of us went to work.
Several loose jam nuts and a couple of short bolts later, I think we’re now ready for the pre-inspection that we’ll do before Mel arrives! With decades of airplane building and maintenance experience, I am willing to freely admit that I still need other sets of eyes to go over my work. I could say that the squawk items were there simply because we hadn’t done our own readiness inspection yet, but truthfully, a couple of the things our neighbor Dave found I might simply not have seen. Depend on no single person – even your DAR! Everyone has a different eye for different details. One of the bolts we saw and decided was too short was factory installed on the QB wing, and I could have found two years ago – but it just didn’t register. Don’t be surprised if the issues you find at this stage aren’t on an annual condition inspection checklist – bolt lengths are generally assumed to be “right” if the airplane has an airworthiness certificate!
And that is probably the most important point I can make about these pre-licensing inspections (other than to have several of them). Use a checklist – it is a good guide. But don’t be a slave to it. Most of the things you’ll find at this stage will not BE on the checklist – take the wide view, look critically, and ask “not what has worn or become loose?”, but “what isn’t assembled, fabricated, or fit correctly?”
Take the inspections whenever you can get them, “ready” or not – fix each item as you find them (our squawks from yesterday are already done), and keep on inspecting. The squawk lists will get shorter each time (hopefully), but don’t be surprised when the next inspector finds something that the earlier ones missed. Hey, if I don’t leave at least one thing for Mel to point out, I won’t feel like he’s earned his keep….
Paul
The Pre-pre-pre-inspection?.
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