Maintenance: Tips for Preflight Walk-Around Inspections

The FAA generally defines preflight inspections as a thorough and systematic visual and functional examination of an aircraft to ensure it’s in airworthy condition for safe operation before each flight. Obviously, preflight walk-arounds contribute to safety by providing a critical last line of defense to detect any issues that may have been missed.

But what are the “best practices” for a typical walk-around? Ask any group of business aviation pilots or maintainers for their “best” way to do a preflight walk-around inspection, and you’re likely to get two different sets of answers.

“I think the difference is the pilot will have more of a ‘big picture’ view of the preflight process,” explained Greg Hamelink, director of Whirlpool Corporation’s Business Travel Center. “They are responsible for the aircraft’s ‘airworthiness’ for this flight and concentrate on the things that assure them it’s ready to go.”

“The maintenance technician is going to look at the aircraft differently to determine that it’s not only safe for the next flight, but also the many legs it will fly before returning to home base,” said Andy Kiehl, vice president, fleet maintenance, EJM. “That means the AMT’s preflight is going to be much more in-depth. They’re looking at parts of the aircraft in much more detail, not just for things that look out of the ordinary.”

While pilots and aviation maintenance technicians might take slightly different paths to reach the same result – a safe airplane – each can learn something from the other. To that end, Hamelink and Kiehl shared several important tips aimed at making your next preflight the best it can be.

• Focus on the task at hand. Follow the aircraft’s checklist to the letter with every preflight. That means having all the necessary ground support equipment and tools with you when you start. If you get distracted, then start over.
• Don’t get complacent. Even if you’ve done the same preflight 10 days in a row, don’t let complacency tempt you into skipping any steps.
• Try a “back course approach.” One way to avoid complacency is to periodically complete the preflight in reverse order.
• Don’t rely on others to check something. If you’re doing the preflight in tandem with a pilot or AMT, communicate with them to ensure that you both have completed all of your checks.
• Don’t rush. If the preflight takes two hours, then dedicate that time for the task.
• Don’t skimp on the “quick turn” preflight. Just because it’s a fuel-and-go, don’t overlook the chance that you may have damaged a tire or that a line person may not have put the fuel cap on or closed a door securely.

“No matter whether it’s before, during or after a trip, there’s a big difference between doing a thorough walk-around and just walking around the aircraft,” Kiehl said. “It’s important to establish a flow that ensures you’ve checked every item. It’s the little things, like chocks and landing gear pins left in place and unsecured doors, that get overlooked.”

Review NBAA resources about hangar and ground safety at nbaa.org/safety.