TheReelDeel33

Just curious, How many of you have stories about pre-flighting? What are some things you have found during your pre-flight check overs that have caused you to cancel or delay the flight?

LucasM

I was flying with this guy and we were going to go on a X-C in a Seminole. We started the engines, got IFR clearance, GPS flight plan programmed, Taxi clearance, started to taxi and when we did the brake check, they squeaked.... I thought to myself "big deal brakes squeak all the time". He thought for sure that we would have brake failure whenever it was when we would land and since he was PIC I kind of had to go along with it.

Was it a big deal? No we just got another airplane. But oh well, I'm still alive so I guess it wasn't all for nothing.

piper338

First day on the job hydraulic leak, Delayed & Canceled a few flights.

TheReelDeel33

That's rough luck for the first day on the job

usmc-sgt

Not a hard one to miss but in CYUL i turned on the aircraft to check the displays before the walk around and the airplane was DEAD. Not a single glimmer of a volt anywhere. With DC external, AC external and a battery charger not a single thing happened.

Scored an extra 35 hours in YUL for that one while they found new batteries.

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FlyJSH

failed mag during runup (several times)
bird ingestion/strike (several times)
worn tires
hydraulic fluid puddle/little fluid in system
Surface vehicle struck the airplane (two times)
Cargo container blown against fuselage punctured skin
failed starter/generator-engine wouldn't spin
prop seal failed during feather check

The following are why I take a very long time preflighting airplanes that have just been serviced or inspected:
cracked brake pad (broken or not replaced during 100 hour)
trim tab rigged backward during annual inspection
excessive play in ailerons (turn buckle backing off because not safety wired during inspection)



Note: these were on several types of aircraft opperated by five different companies

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TheReelDeel33

Surface vehicles hit your plane twice? You can manage to avoid in air collisions, but the drivers of these cars can't even avoid hitting an airplane thats just sitting on the ground....

Where have you found it common for hydraulic fluid to leak?

joepilot

WAR STORY.

According to Air Force lore, a new hydraulic mechanic was always issued a bucket of rags, and told to come back when the rags were used up. A common write up was "evidence of hydraulic leak at left aileron" and a common sign off was "evidence of hydraulic leak removed".

Joe

Pilotpip

I was going to do a BFR in a customer's own aircraft. I had never been in it before. Our friendly POI (no joke, he was a good guy) suggested having a very thourough look through the logbooks as well as doing my own preflight on the aircraft. Glad I did. Last annual signoff was 5 years prior and one of the elevator hinges were completely broken.

In the 121 world, worst I've found is a tire that was flatspotted pretty bad.

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Frank was RIGHT!

mnttech

Rough place to have to stay

In the 707:
- Aileron trim inop, jamed when trying to go right wing down if I remember.
- Fuel transfer between tank 1 and 4 (no way to do it without the cracked doghouse)

The worst was just after takeoff when the F/O airspeed needle stuck on the V2 pointer UNDER the glass of the airspeed indicator. It was his leg, and when the airspeed did not increase with the gear up, he added a blip of nose down trim. Captain said "Watch your airspeed" and the F/O added another couple of blips of nose down trim, to where we were no longer climbing but starting back down. Not the thing to do at 1000 agl.