Pre Flight

[flydrummer]

I'm gonna start training soon so I've been checking out a few schools and taking intro flights. I've been studying the Jeppesen Private Pilot Manual in the mean time so I do have some basic knowledge. I went on one the other day. As we were walking around the plane a dude in the fuel truck pulls up and says, "filled you guys up a lillte bit ago, you're good to go". The CFI says thanks. I was thinking to myself....that's nice but I'd still like to visually inspect the tanks anyways. We didn't. I said nothing cause I felt it wasn't my place, but to me that's one of those things you should do on every preflight regardless what the fuel truck guy says. Or is this like driving school...where they teach you to drive with your hands and 2 and 10 but in reality no one does that. Or is it just that as time passes you start to get lax in procedures and they become more of a ritual?

 

[RichardRambone]

I ALWAYS visually inspect anything someone other than me touches. Fuel guages are notoriously inaccurate at times so if you've got any doubt tell your CFI that you'd like to verify it. I was flying a 310 once and the cap wasnt screwed back on correctly after the line guys fueled it and it was spitting fuel out as I flew. Luckily it was a short hop but I ALWAYS double check my fuel/oil filler caps before I takeoff. Good luck with your flying. Private pilot training was probably the most exciting time of my short career thus far.

 

[mayday1]

Good observation on your part.. I echo everything the above poster mentioned. Fuel issues are nothing to take lightly or casually... always check the tanks, the caps, the gauges, etc. Nothing against line guys, but you are (will be) PIC and will be ultimately responsible should something go wrong. Don't take any chances with fuel.

 

[flydrummer]

So if I decide to train at that school I'm gonna assume it would be good to ask for a different CFI? I mean, I can sit here and pat myself on the back for catching something like that but I want to make sure that whomever I learn from is gonna be teaching me the correct way.

 

[RichardRambone]

I dont know the whole situation with your CFI but if you reiterate to him that you'd feel more comfortable checking visually then I say you are acting like a PIC and showing your initiative in safety and taking command. He/she should praise this. Sometimes us CFI's can get lazy. Complacency kills as they say.

 

[flydrummer]

I dont know the whole situation with your CFI but if you reiterate to him that you'd feel more comfortable checking visually then I say you are acting like a PIC and showing your initiative in safety and taking command. He/she should praise this. Sometimes us CFI's can get lazy. Complacency kills as they say.

Well this was just a discovery flight so at this point it wouldn't be a problem to meet the other CFIs and decide from there. I guess what I was asking is IF I decide to train at this school shold I feel confident that I'll get the best intruction from this particular CFI? I know we all have bad days but those first impressions...

 

[Avenger29]

You are paying for the airplane and the time of the CFI- you are the PIC...check everything- especially fuel (Which I believe to be one of the most important items of the overall preflight). Linemen are known for being rather bright in some cases and incredibly stupid in others. If you end up crashing- IT IS ALWAYS THE PILOT'S FAULT. Check everything humanly possible.

 

[texanpilot1]

I would question the quality of the CFI if on my discovery flight I noticed something that he/she didn't do. The way you train is the way you are going to fly and you probably want to do everything right. I agree with everyone else and would suggest looking into a different CFI. There is story after story about this. But one is a Lear pilot out of Salt Lake that took off without checking his fuel cap. It was a sight to see them rotate with fuel spilling out of the wing. wish i had it on video!

 

[dhc8fo]

Hold on guys....if this was a scheduled flight, who is to say that the CFI didn't do a walk around BEFORE the student got there where he did visually check the fuel? When I did discovery flights, I only had X amount of time to spend with the student it was a cheaper flight so I didn't want to overburden a potential new student who hadn't flown with all of the details that were to come (such as a thorough preflight). The goal was to rope them in with the actual flight and then let them discover later all of the other crap that goes with the fun stuff.

Have no idea if this is the case, but neither do you.

 

[texanpilot1]

Good point! i have never done a discovery flight. so how about questioning your CFI is something that you are intitled to do and if you have a question go for it.