Search Results for: Cessna 172

The rear seat (p/n 7-1500; revision B) failed at the left hinge point. The AN3 series bolt pulled through the hinge lugs, which are welded to the seat frame bottom. The right hinge holes show elongation, but remained intact. This aircraft was doing spin training at the time of the incident. Modifying the seat frame to current standards is recommended.

There’s plenty of information on the operating limitations of an airplane. A VG diagram (in some applications called a VN diagram) shows many things including stalling speed, maneuvering speed, maximum allowable speed, maximum indicated airspeed in rough air and maximum allowable G loading, both positive and negative. Operate within the parameters of the VG diagram […]

When it comes to pure size and reach, no ab initio/professional career flight training academy can surpass Airline Transport Professionals (ATP), a flight academy founded in 1984 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. With 25 locations now stretching from San Diego and Fort Lauderdale to Trenton, New Jersey, and another four locations (Charlotte, Tampa, Indianapolis and Oakland) […]

Doug White, 56, had about 130 hours total time in Cessna 172s when he faced the sort of challenge usually reserved for characters in action movies. On Easter Sunday, with his wife and two teenage daughters on board, White was in the right seat of a King Air 200 when the pilot-in-command collapsed and died. […]

The forward outboard, lower wing spar caps were found cracked. The cracks-on both left and righthand assemblies-radiated out from the fourth Huck rivet forward, passing through the wing attach hinge. This aircraft was inspected 15 months /404.2 hours ago by eddy current. No cracks were found at that time. Wing lower spar cap part numbers: l/h: 000-110012-1; r/h: 000-110012-2.

Student pilots learn very early in their flying career how to avoid cloud and maintain visual reference to the ground. Even so, the classic case of a VFR pilot caught in IMC remains one of the most chilling scenarios in general aviation. The situation is made all the more critical when rising terrain is factored […]

The pilot was making a left turn in front of a hangar. He pulled the control wheel full aft to take the weight off the front wheel and the control wheel broke off in his hand. The break formed across the wheel, from the lower left to the upper right. Control wheel p/n: 0513168-2.

The Piaggio P.180 Avanti II is one of the most unusual, even exotic, looking airplanes in production today. When you look at the airplane and wonder “why did they do that,” the answer is always the same — to fly the biggest cabin the fastest for the least fuel. Efficiency drove every decision Piaggio engineers […]

The pilot reported a loud “pop” just before entering the pattern. When he extended the gear, the green “gear down” light would not come on. A fly-by revealed the left main gear was in transit. A gear-up landing ensued. Inspection revealed the left main gear actuator (p/n 9882015-2) housing was cracked across the forward attach bolt hole. The cracked housing allowed the piston rack to jump gears on the pinion gear attached to the main gear leg. This area is inspected each 100 hours for cracks and defects very carefully, (using) lights and inspection mirrors. Time since last inspection: 25.0 hours.

The trickle-down effect of installation of glass cockpits in increasingly modest airplanes has changed the type of checkout a pilot gets when seeking to rent a machine from the local FBO. Because presentation of attitude, altitude and speed of the airplane, along with health of its various systems, has changed so dramatically from round-gauge airplanes, there has to be a fair amount of time spent with an instructor on the ins and outs of the video screens. This is a very good thing, if for no other reason than getting a firm introduction to the avionics of an airplane before launching into the blue unknown may prevent a few pilots from killing themselves. One hopes the days of “Hey, its an airplane, lead me to it and Ill fly it” soon will fade into aviation legend, along with their associated accidents. The good news is that the newer, more technically advanced airplanes tend to have fewer secret corners in either their systems or their handling as certification rules have become more sophisticated. While some bemoan the increasingly “vanilla” flavor of handling and systems in newly certified airplanes, its hard not to appreciate that they tend to have fewer little secrets that will kill the uneducated. However, the reality is that most pilots are still flying airplanes acquiring senior citizen status-the airplanes, I mean-and failure to spend time learning the details of a particular type prior to flying it can prove embarrassing at the very least.