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It's annual time. This time I am doing a lot more of the owner-assistance with my IA looking closely over my shoulder. He knows the plane and will give it his usual through inspection, but I am trying to fully cover the items as well.
The FAA says use a checklist. They say that it can be from the manufacturer, self-produced, or whatever as long as it covers the territory described in Part 43 Appendix D. I like to have a checklist where I can make notes and check off items as I do them so that at the end I can see that I haven't missed anything.
My Univair reprint of the Taylorcraft BC12D Service Manual has an inspection check list, but my plane has been upgraded with a C-85 and electric system so there are a few more things to look at than in the original manual. Searching the forum, I see that back in 2008 Mark Julicher scanned and OCR'ed the check list. Then there is the thread from a few years ago attempting to put together a checklist. But nothing really complete was ever forthcoming that I can find.
Well, never one to shy away from embarrassing myself in public, I took Mark's scan/OCR and did my own scan/OCR and then merged and edited it to add the C-85 bits along with some different font sizes and formats to make the list easy to read on the table in the shop. I added some little circles to the front of each item because I like to have a defined place to make a check mark as I go along. I added sections near the end for electrical stuff. It seems funny that the original didn't have that. Most Taylorcrafts were wired for position lights and a ground-chargeable battery box. I have done some minor re-wording and added an item to lube and inspect the trim mechanism back in the tail. I have added items to check the strut ADs.
Here is a PDF of my first attempt. I am using it now and it seems to work fairly well so I thought I would throw it out to all you guys and gals to read, nitpick, discuss, edit... hopefully improve. I will be glad to stick the source were as well as the PDF if folks want to play with it themselves. Being an old Unix guy, the document is done with Open Office / Libre Office in open document format. It may be readable by Word in Windows, but I have no way to check.
I used a few criteria that seemed to drive me putting this thing together. This might help when we are discussing differing or conflicting goals.
Hope this is useful. I'm looking forward to improving it.
Attached Checklist PDF
The FAA says use a checklist. They say that it can be from the manufacturer, self-produced, or whatever as long as it covers the territory described in Part 43 Appendix D. I like to have a checklist where I can make notes and check off items as I do them so that at the end I can see that I haven't missed anything.
My Univair reprint of the Taylorcraft BC12D Service Manual has an inspection check list, but my plane has been upgraded with a C-85 and electric system so there are a few more things to look at than in the original manual. Searching the forum, I see that back in 2008 Mark Julicher scanned and OCR'ed the check list. Then there is the thread from a few years ago attempting to put together a checklist. But nothing really complete was ever forthcoming that I can find.
Well, never one to shy away from embarrassing myself in public, I took Mark's scan/OCR and did my own scan/OCR and then merged and edited it to add the C-85 bits along with some different font sizes and formats to make the list easy to read on the table in the shop. I added some little circles to the front of each item because I like to have a defined place to make a check mark as I go along. I added sections near the end for electrical stuff. It seems funny that the original didn't have that. Most Taylorcrafts were wired for position lights and a ground-chargeable battery box. I have done some minor re-wording and added an item to lube and inspect the trim mechanism back in the tail. I have added items to check the strut ADs.
Here is a PDF of my first attempt. I am using it now and it seems to work fairly well so I thought I would throw it out to all you guys and gals to read, nitpick, discuss, edit... hopefully improve. I will be glad to stick the source were as well as the PDF if folks want to play with it themselves. Being an old Unix guy, the document is done with Open Office / Libre Office in open document format. It may be readable by Word in Windows, but I have no way to check.
I used a few criteria that seemed to drive me putting this thing together. This might help when we are discussing differing or conflicting goals.
- First and foremost the check list should be usable to guide an annual inspection.
- This is not "official". My IA has his own check lists and procedures that have served him well for many years. This is intended to be a guide for the interested amateur like me.
- The check list should cover both the common BC12-D and also the BC12-D-4-85 STC'd for the C-85 upgrade.
- The check list should clearly contain everything in the original service manual. Wouldn't want some slimy lawyer-type complaining that we didn't follow the "expert guidance". Am I missing anything?
- The check list should cover Part 43 appendix D items. Again, Is anything missing?
Hope this is useful. I'm looking forward to improving it.
Attached Checklist PDF
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