Pilots must conduct thorough preflight inspections of aircraft tires and always seek expert advice (e.g., A&P mechanic) for any unusual or unfamiliar damage, prioritizing safety over flying.
Aircraft tires differ significantly from automobile tires, lacking wear bars and requiring specific inflation pressures found in the POH; proper inflation checks and awareness of common issues like flat spots are crucial.
Maintenance tasks, such as changing or even properly inflating an aircraft tire, are complex procedures requiring specialized tools, knowledge, and often the guidance of an experienced mechanic, underscoring the pilot's responsibility to ensure proper and safe tire condition.
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.
