All, and then some,

 

And indeed, they may have really been doing their job and prevented a control disconnection or other serious problem which may have been overlooked and caused an incident and/or destruction of your, then aircraft, or your life, at least as you may know it now.--- but then there are those who don't even look.... Which one is doing a better job.

 

When you took your private/commercial/instrument/multi/atp etc tests the object was for the inspector to determine if you as a pilot were able to, after the ground tests, perform in a manner that was safe and met the stated requirements.

 

Assuming equal skill,show up for your test  in a thread bare sweatshirt, cutoff jeans, 3 day old beard (especially the women), charts and necessary equipment in disorder, you will probably have a very-very thorough (and possibly excessive) exam. Show up like a professional organized pilot and other than the basics required for the test you will probably breeze thorough it.

 

It is an unfortunate fact of human nature that one tends to "distrust" those unlike ourselves and many times, given the opportunity (and authority), will discriminate against these "others" in various ways.

 

If you want an easy time through the aw cert exam, Have your plane finished. Have multiple people look at your work, and not only your friends (yes men/women) but the guy on the airport that is the nit-picker. Its the Nits that may kill you, or cause you to fail the exam.

 

Obviously have all your paperwork assembled correct and organized. Have your records, be they log and/or pictures that will convey what the inspectors are looking for. Be ready to start the engine and taxi the aircraft (although you will  not be asked to taxi), Have your work area spotlessly clean (impossible for me), Have all of your placards in the proper places and affixed properly. I don't know if I would assume that if you let the inspector (FAA or DAR) "find something" that that will be in your favor.

 

Doughnuts may not be required, but a pot of coffee may be nice, at least just to have it to offer.

 

Look at your inspection as an opportunity to "show off" your project with great pride and that will transmit itself to your inspector. If you are "trying to just get by, that will be transmitted nonverbally and definitely to your inspectors. the inspection will probably, in that case be longer and more intense. Remember these guys have a job to do, Superimpose on that variability in personality and attitude and try to act accordingly.

 

After you get your AW and Repairman cert, then get out the sweatshirt and cutoffs.

 

Rich

 

While I did pass my first inspection, I must admit I was really embarrassed at the number of missing cotter pins and not tightened to spec nuts the inspector found - and I didn't have the excuse of a short time lead.  Fortunately all were easily and quickly fixed and the inspector was nice enough to call the problems out as he went alone, so I could come along behind him fixing them. 

 

By the time he had finished, so had I and I expected he would go back and check that I had done what I was suppose to, but no, his view was he had pointed them out to me and felt that should be sufficient - sort of treated you like an adult - even if a bit dim-witted one {:>)

 

So you'll get there - and besides those inspector guys need to re-inspect somebody every once in a while - to show they are really doing their job {:>)

 

Ed

From: Ernest Christley

Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 1:04 PM

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Subject: [FlyRotary] Anatomy of a failed AW inspection

As many of you know, I called the Greensboro FSDO and scheduled an Airworthiness 

Inspection.  It was originally scheduled for last Friday, but got postponed due

to inclement weather.  Wednesday turned out to be a shirt-sleeve day, and

perfect for an inspection inside a large, open hangar.  When I called for the 

inspection, I was expecting to get a date a couple months out.  The quickness

of the schedule took me by surprise, but being the gung-ho guy I am, I went

for it.

Three inspectors showed up.  Mike Foster, who I had been working with, and

seemed mostly concerned with paperwork. Tim, who did most of the hardware

inspection.  And Mark, who seemed to enjoy looking at airplanes the most.

Don't bother to bring donuts and coffee.  Those guys were there for hard

line business.  Wish I could get my $23 back from Dunkin Donuts.  Coffee

was crap anyway 8*)

They want the airplane in a state where they can write you the AW and you

can immediately taxi it out to fly.  Tim seemed to imply that any

modifications after issuing the certificate would require contacting the

FSDO and flying another 40 hours.  I found that a bit drastic, and I'm

still not sure how it will work out (If I add a nose wheel fairing, do I

have to go back into the test flight area for 40 hours?  How about if I

change my intercom?  Does the simplest of issues requiring correction

during flight testing require the clock to reset?).  Tim's approach was

reasonable, so I'm sure it will all be fine.

I had a LOT of cotter pins missing and nylock nuts that weren't tightened

down.  Most of this was due to not wanting to waste cotter pins and nylock

nuts on parts that needed to be constantly removed during the building

process.  I probably would have caught most of them if I'd had two months

between when I called for the inspection appointment and when they came

out, which is what I was expecting.  "We can be there Friday" took me by

surprise, and in retrospect I should have explained my expectation and

begged for more time.  Then I could have gotten several pre-inspections

and have been ready.  Recommendation: Get several pre-inspections so that

you are ready.

The biggest deficiency, by far, was that I do not have my final propeller.

My "first attempt" prop has some shop rash on it (tow bars are rough on

propellers when you don't remove them before cranking), and I was quite

open with the fact that I had no intention of flying with it.  That was a

clear violation of the "ready to fly" rule, and when I think about it a

moment, a clear violation of common sense.  The point of the Phase 1 is to

make sure the major parts of the airplane are working properly together.

The point of 40hours instead of 25 for non-certified prop/engine

combinations is to make sure they work together in particular.  How can

you test them together, when they obviously haven't been fabricated?  Duh.

At the end, Mike was wanting to write the Repairman's Certificate for me.

All the pictures I've taken during the build process running as a

slideshow on a laptop whil the inspection was going on made it clear that

I had built this contraption.  I could tell that Mike didn't want to leave

me empty handed; but, he needed the airplane's certification date for that

form, so he was blocked.  I point that out to say that these guys actually

WANT to give you the legal pass to go fly.  My project was simply NOT

ready to be called an airplane.

I've got a list of fixes to complete.  That give me some focus to punch

through and git 'er done.  It won't be long now.  This would have only taken

one visit if I had:

1) Lined up some pre-inspections by people who had been through this before.

2) Been honest with myself and asked for more time to get things complete.

3) Understood beforehand that "complete" means "completed".

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