AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2024 - 97

Savvy Maintenance coverage
sponsored by AIRCRAFT SPRUCE
SAVVY MA INTENANCE /OPINION
The big boWhy annual inspections?
BY MIKE BUSCH
150 hours a year-often much, much less-in
noncommercial Part 91 operations.
ys don't do them-why must we?
Double standard
The regulation that governs how often we
need to do inspections is 91.409. It's a long
and complicated regulation that divides
the universe of GA airplanes into two buckets-let's
call them the " big boys " and the
" rest of us. " Multiengine turboprops (e.g.,
Beechcraft King Airs) and multiengine
turbojets (e.g., Cessna Citations) are put
into the " big boy " bucket. Large airplanes
that weigh more than 12,500 pounds (e.g.,
DC-3s) are put there, too. All other aircraft
go into the " rest of us " bucket.
There's one exception: Curiously, the
owner of a turbine-powered rotorcraft
is permitted to choose which bucket he
wants his whirlybird to be placed in. The
FAA doesn't give that option to owners of
any other kind of aircraft. (As we'll see, it
sure would be nice if they did.)
Owners of aircraft in the " rest of us "
G I VEN TODAY 'S ACUT E shortage of GA
mechanics and the difficulty owners
are having getting their airplanes on
shop schedules, I've been receiving an
increasing number of inquiries about
the need for annual inspections from
frustrated owners.
" Why is it necessary to have my airplane
completely torn apart every 12 months? "
one owner asked. " I've only flown about 40
hours since the last annual inspection. "
" Wouldn't it help solve the mechanic
shortage if the FAA would let noncommercial
operators like me do inspections every
18 or 24 months? " another owner asked.
Those are great questions. I've long
thought that the rule requiring small GA
airplanes to receive a complete inspection
every 12 calendar months didn't make a lot
of sense. Larger airplanes aren't required
to do it that way, so why are we?
There are certainly parts of our small
GA airplanes that need to be inspected
frequently. For piston aircraft, that
includes pretty much everything forward
of the firewall. I'm talking about all that
stuff that's constantly trying to cook and
vibrate itself to death. Inspecting that stuff
once a year might not be often enough.
I would probably also include tires,
wheels, and brakes in that category.
They live a tough life, too, and need to be
inspected frequently. For retractables, I'd
include the gear retraction system.
But is it really necessary to open up
the wings, empennage, and tailcone and
remove the carpets, seats, and floorboards
to inspect for corrosion every 12 months?
Do we really need to check control
cable tensions that often? How about
instruments and avionics? Wouldn't it be
adequate to do that every other year?
I certainly think so, at least for the lion's
share of small GA airplanes that fly less than
bucket-that's most of us-are required to
perform a complete inspection every 12
calendar months, regardless of hours flown.
If they use their aircraft to carry passengers
for hire or to give flight instruction for hire,
then they also are required to perform
complete inspections every 100 hours.
In lieu of doing annual or 100hour
inspections, " rest of us " owners
are permitted to elect a " progressive
inspection " program so long as it is
approved by their local flight standards
district office. Such a progressive
inspection program is essentially an annual
inspection on the installment plan. Piston
GA manufacturers like Beechcraft, Cessna,
and Cirrus have developed progressive
inspection programs that FSDOs will
almost always approve. These typically
consist of four phased inspections to
be performed every 50 hours. When
combined, these four phased inspections
constitute a complete inspection of the
aircraft. But here's the rub: The FAA
requires that all four phased inspections
be completed within 12 calendar months.
Thus, a progressive inspection program
AOPA PILOT / September 2024
97
JOHN HOLM
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2024

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