Register

Maintaining Your Ideal Aircraft: What Can a Pilot Do?

FAA regulations specify which maintenance tasks certificated pilots can perform on their own airplanes.

Changing your airplane's engine oil is among many maintenance tasks that pilots can perform. [Credit: Jonathan Welsh]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Certificated private pilots are authorized by FAA regulations (14 CFR Part 43 Appendix A Subpart C) to perform specific preventive maintenance tasks on their own aircraft, including oil changes.
  • Performing these tasks, while carrying significant responsibility, helps pilots gain deeper familiarity and confidence with their aircraft's workings.
  • Pilots often consider practical experience and community consensus when determining maintenance intervals, sometimes shortening them from manual recommendations, and must diligently log all work.
See a mistake? Contact us.

Recently I was quietly celebrating my rapid accumulation of flight hours so far this year. Annie, our Commander 114B, and I have done a lot of traveling. I might even score my first 100-hour year, I thought. I realized it was also time for an oil change.

The maintenance manual says every 50 hours, but most of my pilot friends say that interval is too long. As a result, conversation in the hangar community revolves around how often you change yours and what that number says about you as a pilot—or so it seems.

Jonathan Welsh

Jonathan Welsh is Lead Editor of Aviation Consumer and a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4

Ready to Sell Your Aircraft?

List your airplane on AircraftForSale.com and reach qualified buyers.

List Your Aircraft
AircraftForSale Logo | FLYING Logo
Pilot in aircraft
Sign-up for newsletters & special offers!

Get the latest stories & special offers delivered directly to your inbox.

SUBSCRIBE