Main Deck Flashcards
As a Private Pilot, what certificates and/or documents must you carry on or about your person?
- Pilot Certificate
- Medical Certificate
- Government issued photo id.
What certificates and/or documents must the aircraft have?
Airworthiness Certificate Registration Certificate Radio Station License (Intl flights) Owners Manual/AFM/POH Weight and Balance Information
Notes:
- You don’t get to decide whether you will carry the Owners Manual, AFM, or POH. Depending on your aircraft, one of the above will be required. You must know this!
- It is all fine and well to know that these things are required, you must also be able to go to the airplane, and put your hands on them.
- The Airworthiness Certificate must be visible to passengers and crew. (It is usually in a clear plastic envelope on a lower sidewall, and almost impossible to read, but this meets the requirements)
How long is your Medical Certificate Valid
This depends on your age at your last medical examination.
Not yet 40 (60 Calendar Months):
Issued June 2, 2012, expires June 30, 2017
Issued February 2, 2011, expires Feb 29, 2016
40 or over (24 Calendar Months):
Issued June 2, 2012, expires June 30, 2014
Issued February 2, 2011, expires Feb 28, 2013
What sort of logbook must you keep, and what sort of time must you record
You must be able to show currency, and, if you are applying for a certificate, rating, or flight review, you must be able to show that you meet the requirements. Logbooks may be electronic or paper. FAR 61.51 specifically says acceptable to the administrator, and, in general, that means that you must satisfy your Inspector and/or Examiner.
Weight and Balance
This is specific to the airplane, so we really can’t test this here.
Common Errors:
- Using expired/superseded data
- Using generic data
You are making a Day VFR cross country, and during your preflight, on an airplane with no MEL, you notice that the right nav light in inoperative.
What are your choices?
1, Call a mechanic to correct the problem, or placard and deactivate the nav lights.
- Placard and Deactivate yourself
- Cancel the flight!
FAR 91.213 is very strict about flying with inoperative equipment. I know that it is day VFR, and the nav lights aren’t required, but they are installed, and therefore must be fully operational. This applies to ALL installed equipment.
You are making a Day VFR cross country, and during your preflight, on an airplane with no MEL, you notice that the right nav light in inoperative.
Maintenance is not available so you decide to Placard and Deactivate. What is the procedure?
A SAFER PD (safer spelled with a C)
Airworthy - do you believe that the aircraft is AW
Certification - was the item required for cert?
AD - is the item required to be operational by AD
F - Does the aFm/POH require the item
E - Does the equipment list require this item
R - Do the regs, 91.205, Mode C Veil, etc require
Placard - Put an “inop” sticker on it.
Deactivate - Pull the breaker.
If you have an equipment list that provides a method to determine whether an item is required, then you may omit the ertification step.
Deactivate, at the least requires that you pull the associated CB which may deactivate other items, thereby starting the process over again for another piece of equipment. Many Feds will insist that the CB be collared, and still others will require a logbook entry.
Be careful, this option is doable, but fraught with pot holes.
You are making a Day VFR cross country, and during your preflight, on an airplane with an MEL, you notice that the right nav light in inoperative.
Maintenance is not available. What is the procedure?
Assuming that the MEL allows the nav lights to be inop, and assuming that there are no items (items that must be performed by maintenance), you may follow the directions provided in the MEL.
It will almost certainly require that the flights be conducted in daytime, and require that you placard and deactivate the nav lights.
What items are required for Day VFR?
A very simple way to respond is to turn to FAR 91.205 and read the list. Depending on your examiner this may be enough, or he/she may want
TOMATO FLAMES Tachometer Oil pressure Manifold pressure Altimeter Temperature sensor (if liquid cooled) Oil temperature (if air cooled)
Fuel gauge Landing gear position indicator Airspeed indicator Magnetic compass ELT Seat belts
What items are required for night VFR?
All of the day VFR requirements plus FLAPS:
Fuses (spares) or circuit breakers Landing light (if for hire) Anti-collision lights Position lights Source of electricity
What is a Special Flight Permit?
A special flight permit allows a pilot to fly an airplane that it technically unairworthy, to a place where repairs can be made. It is usually issued by the FAA.
How would you get a Special Flight Permit?
Since the airplane is un-airworthy—-it is out of inspection or something that can’t otherwise be placarded is inoperative—you will almost certainly need an A&P as part of the process.
Figure out your work-around for the inoperative item. For instance, you have no ELT. You will have to convince the FAA that you can operate the airplane safely without an ELT. This might be as simple as agreeing to use ATC flight following for the entire flight, or flying a specific route along with filing a VFR flight plan.
Once the A&P has approved of the operation, you will have to approach the FAA with your request. If approved, you are good to go.
Why do we need an AD list
When an A&P signs off an inspection, 100 hour, annual, progressive, all he/she is saying is that at that instant, the aircraft is airworthy. This does not guarantee that the airplane will be airworthy even for 10 more minutes. Suppose that a muffler requires replacement every 500 hours, and the last annual or 100 hours inspection occurred when the muffler had 475 hours. Airplane parts are expensive; the owner might legitimately want to wait 25 hours before replacing this expensive part. Unfortunately, all to often, the item isn’t caught until the next inspection. Hence the need for a pilot to have access to the AD list which will show AD compliance, and with recurring ADs, when they are next due.
Unless you are an A&P, you have no idea how to research ADs, nor is there a need for you to. You simply rely on the AD list produced by the A&P at the last inspection.
ADs fall into two main categories, what are they?
One Time: Do the AD once, and it never has to be done again.
Recurring: These ADs have to be done on some schedule. This is problematic because the schedule might not coincide with regular maintenance such as the 25 hours seat track AD for C-172s.
You have checked the AD List, and all ADs on the list are within limits. Is that the end of the AD story?
NO! The AD list was generated at the last inspection, and there may have been ADs issued since. There is no really good fix for this other than to deal with reputable people.
