Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips. Remember... when it comes to being good pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 03.03.06

In 1985 I bought a tail-dragging 1946 Cessna 120. I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about flying, for seven years in that machine. According to the FAA registry it’s still providing smiles and exercising feet in a flying club in Oklahoma.

The 120 was mechanically sound (despite some cosmetic challenges). Family and friends, however, wondered aloud about the wisdom of buying a then-39-years-old airplane. Their visions of early-postwar cars and late 1940s houses rightly raised questions of safety. Aviation magazines of the day (and I) responded by correctly saying “older airplanes are safe because they are inspected and maintained to a higher standard.”

More important than calendar time are aircraft use and cycles. (NOTES: a “cycle” for an unpressurized airplane is one takeoff through one landing). Airplanes certified before the mid-1970s were not required to be tested for safe fatigue life... so there are no data on how long they’ll last under various uses or beyond a certain number of cycles.

I bought my plane in an era when most buyers shied away from airplanes with more than 3000 total hours (my C120 had about 5000). The oldest Cessna 172 in the world was under 30 years, the first Cherokee around 20 years old. We thought these airplanes would last almost forever.

Pay the Piper

And they might, if we take proper care of them. The industry, owners groups and FAA’s Best Practices Guide for Maintaining Aging General Aviation Airplanes calls for voluntary inspections and maintenance procedures for continued airworthiness as we explore the unknown aircraft use and cycles spectrum. It’s time to pay the piper (and the Cessna, and the Beech...) to properly care for a fleet whose average age is now more than 30 years. There’s a lot we can do to keep planes flying safely as they continue to age—but it’ll take extra effort (and unfortunately expense) by owners to “inspect and maintain airplanes to a higher standard.”

Would I buy the C120 again today, now that it’s 60 years old? With a good prepurchase inspection and ample maintenance budget -- you bet!

Aero-Tip of the day: Be willing to voluntarily spend time and money to keep aging airplanes safe—before the expense of delayed maintenance or over-reaching Federal regulation makes it too costly.

FMI: Aero-Tips