Standard Preflight

evacuation procedures must be onboard during servicing. An aircraft door must remain open, and a clear evacuation route must be present.

Preflight of a turbine aircraft includes many more items than you may be used to, and the duties of each crew member vary by equipment and company. At the same time, turbine preflight procedures follow a commonsense pattern that will seem familiar to you almost at once. In this section we cover some general preflight procedures (with emphasis on commercial operations).

A standard preflight may be broken down into four basic categories: review of aircraft documents, cockpit check, emergency equipment check, and external check of aircraft.

Aircraft Documents Review

A standard preflight normally begins with a review of all aircraft documents required to be onboard. The following is a generic list of required documents found on turbine and/or commercial aircraft: • Airworthiness Certificate • Aircraft Registration Certificate • Radio Station License • Aircraft Flight Manual • Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Records • Normal, Abnormal, and Emergency Checklists • Airport Analysis and/or Aircraft Performance

Data • Minimum Equipment List (MEL)/Configuration

Deviation List (CDL) • Takeoff and Landing Data Cards (TOLD Cards) • Load Manifest • Compass Deviation Cards

Often, it is the first officer’s duty to ensure that all required aircraft documents are onboard the aircraft. The captain must review the Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Records in order to determine the aircraft’s airworthiness prior to flight. (The captain is not to accept an aircraft having any “open write-ups,” or unresolved maintenance issues.) Once satisfied that any maintenance issues have been properly addressed, he or she signs the records, signifying acceptance of the aircraft for flight. While the captain does this, the first officer (FO) completes the rest of the aircraft preflight.

Cockpit and Emergency Equipment Checks

Once the paperwork has been checked, the crew conducts a cockpit preflight flow check (Figure 12.1). This ensures that switches, controls, and circuit breakers are in their proper positions. Depending upon aircraft, season, and whether or not it’s the aircraft’s first flight of the day, the FO may opt to turn on the APU (auxiliary power unit) or GPU (ground power unit). Environmental systems can then be activated to adjust cabin temperatures in preparation for passenger boarding. An emergency equipment check covers the presence and operability of all fire extinguishing equipment, supplemental oxygen equipment, and emergency exits.

Exterior Preflight Check

Exterior preflight check of a turbine aircraft includes many of the same items you’re used to from piston models (Figure 12.2). The condition of fuselage skin, windows, and maintenance and cargo access doors must be checked, along with antennas, aircraft lights, and deice and anti-ice equipment. You’ll also be checking various system pressures, such as hydraulics, emergency oxygen, and fire-extinguishing bottles. (Gauges are often located in wheel wells or compartments where they’re hard to read. Pilots quickly learn to carry a good-quality flashlight on preflight.)

Turbine aircraft tend to have more outside covers and locks than are normally found on light airplanes. External gust locks are sometimes installed on control surfaces for longer-term parking, as are engine inlet and pitot tube covers. Forgetting any of these things on preflight can kill you . . . and most are not visible from the cockpit! Propeller tiedowns (prop ties) are often installed on free-turbine turboprops for parking, in order to prevent propellers from “blowin’ in the wind.”

One other important preflight item is to check for removal of gear pins. These devices, which are installed for parking on many larger aircraft, are lock-down pins inserted into the strut or retraction mechanism of each landing gear. Taking off with gear pins installed is both embarrassing and

dangerous since the gear won’t retract when you select “up.” At least one airline puts gear pins in the pocket behind the captain’s seat for flight so that their presence (proof of removal) can be confirmed on the Before Start Checklist.

On some aircraft, the nose gear scissors must also be checked to confirm that they’re mated. On these models, the scissors are disconnected for towing of the aircraft by a ground tug. If the scissors are not reconnected, the nose gear is left freewheeling and unsteerable.

Final Preflight Preparations

While the FO is preflighting the aircraft, the captain may often be found in the flight operations office (flight ops) receiving and reviewing weather or, for companies with a professional dispatcher, the dispatch flight release. The dispatch release includes weather for the upcoming leg, the flight plan, and passenger bookings, along with the required fuel load.

Upon returning to the aircraft, the captain briefs the crew on the upcoming flight. Sometime during the preflight process, the first officer tunes in and copies ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service), then gets the ATC clearance. Although not always done, it’s desirable for both flight crew members to listen to the clearance so both can confirm that it was properly received and recorded.

With this, the standard preflight is over. If it’s a large aircraft, passengers have probably been boarded, and the plane is ready to roll. On smaller vehicles, the FO can now look forward to boarding the passengers in compliance with company and FAA policies, including random loading weight and balance requirements. (See Chapter 11, Weight and Balance.)

C2 C3

F2 F1

C5 C4

C6

C1 C7

Captain: Preflight Flow C1. Side panel C2. Oxygen panel C3. Overhead panel C4. Brow panel C5. Captain’s instrument panel C6. Engine instruments panel C7. Power quadrant and console First Officer: Preflight Flow F1. Oxygen panel F2. Overhead panel F3. FO instrument panel

FIGURE 12.1 | Cockpit preflight flow checks.

F3