Inspection or check?
Fortyodd2,
Again I can’t disagree with any of your points, they are all valid.
One of the issues that I raised earlier, and which PACO also indicated was an issue in UK, is the legality of a pilot carrying out a Daily Inspection. Please note I use the phrase Daily Inspection not Daily Check. I have had it explained to me that an Inspection is a maintenance function and can only be conducted / certified by a licenced engineer / certified maintenance personnel. We too can get a special authorisation for a pilot to carryout a Daily Inspection if we are out of the country on an international flight, but only for a very few days before a licenced maintainer has to be parachuted in.
Like other contributors I too like to have a good look around after any intensive maintenance but the issue I raise is should I be/am I required to check for chafing, freedom of movement of linkages when it is has just been checked and signed for by some ‘high priced help’?
Some contributors have expressed concern about tools being left behind on the aircraft after maintenance, and I agree that this could be a concern if your maintenance department does not have a close control on such items, but again the control of tools is a quality / engineering issue. However when was the last time one of us (pilots) went down to Standard Aero or H & S or similar when we had an engine in their shop to check, before they closed it up, if they had left a tool or rag inside the engine? Where does one draw the line? Maybe I have been fortunate with the quality of the operations I have previously been a part of that, in the main, these traditional concerns are a thing of the past.
Another aspect of the pre-flight check I would like to throw open for discussion is the fuel check? As part of your pre-flight check do you drain a sample of fuel, do you test it with a capsule or chemical (that is in date) for water, do you save the sample at least until the end of the day? Is the batch number of the fuel recorded in the tech log? What do you do with the fuel after you have sampled it? If you spilt any fuel on the ground during the check do you call for decontamination? If you got it on your hands do you go wash, if you got it on your clothing do you go change? Or do you decide that it is not required or there is too much downside and potential for delay, or perhaps that it is an ‘engineering / maintenance function’ and that somebody else should have done it, or that it is covered by Daily Inspection or the Turnaround signature?
Signing for the turnaround is something else the licenced maintainer can do too. I take it that you have a slot on your Tech Log for a turnaround signature, or is it only us that are ‘blessed’ with such bureaucracy?