Day Fifteen – The Pre-flight Check

Before taking to the skies, it is the pilot’s responsibility to insure that his/her aircraft is in excellent working condition. There’s no pulling off of the road at 4000 ft when something goes wrong. So, before each flight, the pilot conducts a pre-flight inspection known as the walk-around. This is an opportunity to make sure that all the control surfaces are secure and moving freely, that the engine oil and brake fluids are at the correct level (these engines are air cooled, so no coolant to check), that there is no contamination in the fuel, no chips on the prop, etc., etc.

Today, while conducting the walk-around, I discovered a problem with the engine. One of the primer lines, where fuel is injected into the cylinders prior to start up, had broken away from one of the four cylinders, most likely as a result of vibration. Not a critical problem affecting flight, but had the engine still been hot from the previous flight, it could have started a small engine fire on start-up with the first push of the primer knob. Ten minutes to fix and we were on our way – a very good reminder of the critical importance of the pre-flight check.

As it happened, I had just been studying emergency procedures, including engine fire on start-up. What would I have done? Well, according to the Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH):

Starter...CRANK ENGINE
Mixture...IDLE CUT-OFF
Throttle...OPEN
Electric Fuel Pump...OFF
Fuel Selector...OFF
ABANDON AIRCRAFT IF FIRE CONTINUES