Had a new guy at the hangar ask me why we bother with the final walk-around check

Honestly, I was showing him the ropes on a Cessna 172 annual in Dallas, and he said it seemed like a waste of time since we'd already signed off the log. I told him about the time I found a loose oil cap on that exact step, and it clicked for him. How do you explain the real weight of that last look to someone green?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_daniel2mo ago

Wait, he said that after an annual? That's the scariest time to skip it. You just had the whole thing apart. I found a rag stuffed in a wheel well once on a final walk, left from a brake job. That stuff haunts you.

anthony_sullivan682mo ago

You ever wonder how many planes are flying around with extra parts? I mean, a rag is bad enough, but I bet there's a whole lost-and-found box of tools up there somewhere. Makes you think twice about that little bump you felt on climb out.

hayes.tara18d ago

Doesn't that rag thing just make you want to triple check every panel before you fly @the_daniel? I knew a guy who found a shop rag wrapped around a control rod after his first flight back from an annual. Said the controls felt a little stiff, luckily he caught it before takeoff. I bet those extra parts end up in weird spots nobody ever looks again.