Aircraft tire preflight inspections are critical and distinct from car tires, requiring pilots to identify unusual damage, check specific inflation pressures from the Pilot's Operating Handbook, and seek expert advice when uncertain.
Proper tire inflation is paramount for safety and performance, necessitating daily pressure checks as aircraft tires commonly lose pressure and can cause issues if under-inflated.
Aircraft tire maintenance, including changes, is a complex task requiring specialized tools, techniques, and often the supervision of an experienced A&P mechanic, rather than being a straightforward process.
Pilots must diligently inspect for common issues like flat spots and never fly an aircraft with compromised tires (e.g., visible cords), ensuring reported maintenance issues are properly addressed before flight.
This is not what a CFI wants to hear when the learner is doing the preflight inspection. The learner was looking at the nosewheel of the Cessna 150, specifically, at a scalloped pattern on the side of the tire. She’d never seen this before—and frankly, in my more than 30 years of flying, neither had I. But I knew ugly when I saw it.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
