This week I had been assisting in my airplane’s annual inspection. Here is a high level breakdown of what my airplane’s annual consists of is as follows:

  • Take ALL the inspection panels off of the aircraft (4 hours labor, 1 drill battery)
    • There are approximately 10 oval inspection panels under each wing
    • There are approximately 6 oval inspection panels under the fuselage
    • There are 4 large sheet metal panels under the fuselage
    • There are 2 panels under the nose next to the gear doors
    • There are 2 cowling panels, one on each side of the nose
    • There is 1 top cowling (hood)
    • There are 5 oval panels on the empanage (tail)
  • Change Oil (2 hours, mainly fighting the oil screen housing and gasket)
    • Drain Oil via the quick release drain in the nose
    • Dismantle the oil screen housing and clean the oil screen
    • Replace oil screen in housing, replace housing, replace gasket
  • Remove all 8 spark plugs (there are 2 per cylinder, yay redundancy) (1 hour)
    • Disconnect spark plug leads
    • Clean Plugs, remove lead build-up (that’s right, GA planes run leaded gasoline)
    • Gap plugs (between .015” and .019”)
    • Apply anti-seize and replace plugs
  • Perform Compression Test of the cylinders (easy job)
  • Inspect muffler
    • Dismantle muffler shroud (oh yeah, that is where the cabin heat comes from)
    • Inspect for wear, disintegration
    • Replace muffler shroud
  • Lubricate!
    • Every… single… rod-end needs a good shot of silicon spray for lubrication
    • Every… Single… grease nipple needs more grease pumped in
    • Every… Single… tire needs to be repacked with grease
  • Fuel cap O-Rings need to be inspected (to make sure fuel doesn’t escape ;))
  • Landing Gear Rigging
    • Mains need to be within a certain tolerance
    • Nose gear needs to be within a certain tolerance
    • Run gear up and down
    • Run gear down with emergency extension mechanism
    • Validate there is no play in the wheels
  • Spinner Inspection
    • Spinner needs to be taken off of the propeller
    • Propeller needs to be inspected and potentially greased
  • Battery inspection
    • If there is battery acid on the battery, or in the box you need to be careful and neutralize.
    • Clean battery terminals
    • Validate levels look good
    • Validate that the battery can hold a charge.
  • Magic Voodoo IA Certified Mechanic Inspection
    • All those inspection panels that were opened up need to be looked in, and a certified mechanic needs to review and assert the aircraft is good
    • Certified mechanic needs to review and assert the aircraft power-plant is good
  • AD hell… (Airworthiness Directives)
    • This is the portion of the annual where the certified mechanic sits at a desk for several hours and ruminates over what the aircraft needs in order to be compliant based on the shotgun blast of directives the government puts out.
    • If there are “re-occurring” ADs, that require action, said action needs to be taken.
  • Take ALL the inspection panels and affix to aircraft (4 hours labor, 1 drill battery)
    • There are approximately 10 oval inspection panels under each wing
    • There are approximately 6 oval inspection panels under the fuselage
    • There are 4 large sheet metal panels under the fuselage
    • There are 2 panels under the nose next to the gear doors
    • There are 2 cowling panels, one on each side of the nose
    • There is 1 top cowling (hood)
    • There are 5 oval panels on the empanage (tail)
  • Perform Run-Up and leak check on oil change
  • Clean interior of aircraft
  • Wash and Wax Exterior

The above is just a high level of what efforts I had assisted with in the annual inspection of my airplane this past week. I have learned one lesson, which is I am not well suited to be a professional mechanic. A few times under the aircraft I started getting really woozy from the fumes. The mixture of the various very dangerous chemicals that makes the aircraft go, as well as being on my back in a tight confined area… well it just isn’t for me.

Every single year this huge list of tasks are run through. Some years are worse than others. If you are an aircraft owner, (and it is deemed acceptable to perform an owner assisted annual with your FSDO) you should really consider doing the grunt work of your aircraft annual with your mechanic. It is truly eye opening.

I personally feel like it makes me a better aviator, in that I know exactly how all the complex systems work, and what potential failures could happen. I keep an eye on things like cylinder head and exhaust gas temperatures more keenly, as I know how that relates to what the engine is doing. I also am able to more clearly articulate what squawks I have to mechanics when I feel work needs to be done.