Skipping the Post-Flight Walkaround Can Be Costly

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 04:28 PM ET

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If you don't do a post-flight walkaround, it's likely you won't notice the issue until the next flight. [File photo: Adobe vStock]

Key Takeaways:

Thorough post-flight walkarounds are crucial for pilots to prevent overlooked issues that can lead to costly maintenance or embarrassing startup problems on subsequent flights.
Complacency, often stemming from rushing or over-familiarity, is a common pilot error that causes essential post-flight steps to be missed, as demonstrated by examples like leaving fuel pumps on.
Pilots should adopt an "owner's mindset" during post-flight inspections, going beyond basic checklists to ensure comprehensive care and readiness of the aircraft, thereby avoiding future disruptions and expenses.

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Despite some of my instructors doing their best to drill into me how important a thorough post-flight walkaround was to end a flight properly, it wasn’t until some self-inflicted embarrassing experiences that I learned my lesson.

If you are familiar with this type of pilot error, you’ll also know that it’s likely you won’t notice the issue until the next flight, which could prove to be costly if you realize only then that you need maintenance—not the quick kind—or suddenly your startup checklists aren’t making much sense, even though you’re doing all the “right things.”