Throughout your primary flight training, you’ve probably accomplished dozens of preflight inspections, gaining valuable experience, confidence, and knowledge with each one. Along the way you’ve probably even identified a few discrepancies that required maintenance action before your flight. That is, after all, the purpose of these inspections: to confirm aircraft airworthiness.
But before an aircraft can be deemed fully airworthy, additional attention must be given to its maintenance logbooks. Many students receive very little practice accomplishing this aspect of the preflight inspection before they take their checkride.
Knowledge of the various airworthiness requirements is essential—not only the specific FAR requirements for aircraft airworthiness, but also what the practical test standards require during the test. Examiners seek to determine whether applicants are capable of assessing, through preflight inspections of the aircraft and its maintenance logs, whether that aircraft is airworthy; and if not, what they would do about it.
The annual inspection is usually easiest to locate. It’s required within the preceding 12 calendar months. While other required maintenance can be performed by an A&P licensed maintenance technician, the annual must be endorsed by an inspection authority designated technician.
Because the emergency locator transmitter check also is required every 12 calendar months, it is often completed during the annual inspection, although it is not part of the annual inspection requirements. For the ELT, look for two things: the operations check (required by FAR 91.207(d)) and the ELT battery replacement date. Many batteries have long-life capability, but they still need to be replaced if an accumulation of one hour of ELT operating time has occurred.
A 100-hour inspection would be required if the aircraft is used to carry passengers for hire, or if that aircraft is used for flight training and the instructor or the flight school provides that aircraft. Student-owned or club-operated aircraft generally do not require the 100-hour inspections. The 100-hour inspection can be extended only by a maximum of 10 hours (tach time) for the purpose of delivering that aircraft to its maintenance station. Any overage is deducted from the next 100-hour time limit.
If your aircraft is equipped with a transponder, it must have been checked within the preceding 24 calendar months for operations within the Mode C veil (surface to 10,000 feet msl) of Class B airspace, in or above Class C airspace, or at and above 10,000 feet msl.
Locating airworthiness directive (AD)compliance entries is when applicants’ stress levels frequently peak. One-time ADs are easy enough to determine, but the recurring ADs can be tricky because they typically recur at differing time intervals. The blanket “all ADs checked” in the logbook during the annual inspection does not guarantee AD compliance on the checkride day. Each recurring AD must be checked to determine that its “next-due” date/time has not been exceeded. Only then are we assured of AD compliance; and locating these individual inspections can mean big trouble for the unprepared applicant.
If you are planning an IFR checkride, don’t forget the pitot-static and encoding altimeter. These checks, when required, usually are accomplished along with the transponder check, since they all share a 24-month time limit. That leaves the VOR accuracy checks, required every 30 days for IFR flights. These are typically performed and recorded by a pilot in a separate log, often located in the aircraft.
Knowing what checks are required for your aircraft—when they’re due, where they’re located and how they appear in the logbook—is the key to your success on checkride day.
