Always Learning: Debunked

I was a 23-year-old, naïve owner of a 1969 Cessna 150 with barely 70 hours in my logbook when I learned a huge lesson about preflighting an aircraft. My old college roommate was in town, and we agreed we would fly into Chicago’s Merrill C. Meigs Field airport just for fun. I had flown the previous evening and decided to do an “abbreviated” preflight before we jumped into the airplane. I made sure to cover the important items: check the fuel quantity, sump the fuel tanks, check the oil, and make sure the controls are free and that nothing hit the airplane while tied down overnight. Good to go.

I fired up the engine and taxied to the fuel pump to top off before our little adventure. Little did I know our adventure would start immediately. Upon reaching the fuel pump, I applied brakes to slow down, but only one brake worked—the other brake pedal went to the floor. The working brake enabled my Cessna 150 to make a hard turn directly toward the fuel pump. Panicked, I turned off the ignition, jumped out of the airplane, and pulled on the wing strut with the desperate hope I could stop the airplane before it hit the pump. I was not strong enough to slow the momentum of a 1,600-pound airplane and, seemingly in slow motion, it advanced toward the pump until the left wing hit a metal light pole—which stopped the airplane a few feet from the pump. I may have avoided an explosion that day, but I was embarrassed, and my airplane was damaged.

It turns out a seal in the right brake caliper failed overnight and I did not notice the red brake fluid on the blacktop during my abbreviated preflight. I also failed to do a brake check immediately after taxiing away from my tiedown spot before the incident. Either action would have prevented the costly mistake. Every flight since, I remember that seemingly innocent chain of events and force myself to slow down and be thorough during both the preflight and before-flight checklists. A little voice in my head says, “Don’t repeat the fuel pump episode!”

Things can—and will—happen to the airplane overnight. Seals leak, electrical connections break, batteries die, instruments fail, animals build nests, and much more. Follow the checklist and expect the worst as you preflight. If you don’t like the checklist you are using, you can make your own on your computer and print it out, or you can create your own in several electronic flight bags (EFBs). Just make sure your checklist includes all of the items recommended in the airplane’s pilot’s operating handbook (POH).