The Professional Pilot

by David Gagliardi

“‘Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a particular area of activity.” -Universities UK et al. 2004

Determining The Airworthiness Of The Aircraft Before Flight

Professional pilots embody the attributes in the definition above. Being a professional pilot has nothing to do with what license you hold it is ultimately about the attitude with which you approach flying. This article is the third in a series that will examine aspects of piloting light aircraft to a professional standard.

Today’s topic is determining the airworthiness of the aircraft before flight. For an aircraft to be considered “airworthy” it must satisfy the requirements of Canadian Aviation Regulation (CAR) 605. All the provisions of this section of the CAR start with the statement “No person shall conduct a takeoff….” and then describe the requirement to be met. Since you, the Pilot in Command (PIC), are the person conducting the takeoff what does this require of you?

Before discussing the process of determining the airworthiness of the airplane you are about to fly, it is important to understand the differences between privately registered vs. commercially registered aircraft.

Transport Canada (TC) requires commercially registered aircraft to be maintained in accordance with a company and aircraft type specific TC approved maintenance schedule. VFC uses a phase maintenance program which involves inspections every 50 hrs, 100 hrs, 150 hrs and 200 hrs, with the inspection resetting to the 50 hour and subsequent checks at 250 hours of accumulated airtime. Defects that arise in between inspections are handled in accordance with the TC approved VFC Maintenance Control Manual.

As a commercial operator VFC also has a TC approved technical dispatch system. This system tracks and forecast the maintenance requirements of each aircraft.

Privately registered aircraft have none of the above requirements. They are maintained to the generic maintenance requirements of CAR 625 appendix B and C. They only require an inspection once per year, regardless of hours flown and there is no requirement to have a formal process for tracking required maintenance.

Knowing the maintenance history of a privately registered aircraft that is owned by the pilot is obviously much easier than if they are renting one that is privately registered. This means it is especially important for a renter pilot operating a private aircraft to inspect the aircraft documents and records in order to assure themselves the aircraft is airworthy before they “conduct a take off”.

All VFC’s Cessna 172R and S model airplanes are commercially registered, however the Piper Cherokee 140, Piper Arrow, and the Cessna 172N (C-GUPA) are privately registered for rental by licensed pilots not conducting flight training. The good news for VFC renter pilots is that VFC maintains them in a parallel but similar maintenance system to the commercially registered VFC aircraft and includes them in the VFC technical dispatch system.

The pre flight documents and records check I use is as follows:

• Check that all required documents, Certificate of Airworthiness, Certificate of Registration, Proof of Insurance, and Weight and Balance report (or latest amendment to the report) are available. I also check that the documents are for the right airplane registration. I have seen cases where documents got mixed up between airplanes and the wrong one was attached. I also check that the weight and balance report is listed on the aircraft information (i.e. the first inside page) of the Journey Log book. The date, empty weight and empty C of G must match the weight and balance report. This is a CAR requirement that is sometimes missed.

• Check the deferred defects control sheet (Note commercially registered aircraft only, privately registered aircraft are not allowed to defer defects). There are 2 types of deferred defects closed or open. Closed defects are defects that had existed but have been rectified and will have a note and date of rectification. These can be ignored, however open defects require a decision on the part of the PIC. The airplane can be legally dispatched with a deferred defect, but it is still the PIC’s decision if they are willing to accept the defect. For example,a failed landing light is deferrable for a daytime flight but if the flight is late in the day the PIC may decide that they will not accept the aircraft in case the flight is delayed, and part of the flight might have to be flown at night. What defects can be deferred can be checked against the list in the VFC document folder. For commercial operators that do not have a list of available deferrable defects the pilot will have to reference CAR 605 and the equipment list in the POH

• Go to the last entry, either a flight or a maintenance release; in the Journey Log and review the maintenance summary ( the little green sheet) clipped to the page. Compare the aircraft total time to the summary sheet to ensure that there is enough time remaining for your flight and the next calendar item is not due. Go back through the Journey Log and find the last inspection (phase if commercial, annual if private) and double check the time to next inspection and next calendar item. This is to catch an inadvertent addition or transcription error on the summary sheet.

• Check for defects noted in the last flight. If there is a defect, then it must be followed by a maintenance release that either defers the defect or indicates it has been rectified (commercially registered) or rectification (privately registered). As an aside all maintenance releases must have the following details: aircraft registration, aircraft total time, a description of the work performed, name and license number or stamp of an AME; and date. If a maintenance release is missing any of these entries, it is not valid, and the aircraft is not airworthy.

• For a flight in an aircraft immediately after an inspection or after significant maintenance action, review what work was done and pay a bit of extra attention to those aircraft parts or system during the walk around and in flight.

• If in doubt about the airworthiness status of an aircraft, consult a maintenance person.

Since the pilot is ultimately responsible for the airworthiness of the aircraft he or she is flying it is important that the pilot conduct a systematic review of the aircrafts’ documentation and a thorough pre flight inspection knowing you are backed by the dedicated, conscientious and knowledgeable maintenance team at VFC. Being a professional pilot means taking responsibility for your part in the airworthiness safety chain before every flight.