Thorough preflight inspections are crucial for identifying uncommon or critical aircraft tire damage; pilots should never hesitate to seek expert advice and make a "no-go" decision when safety is compromised.
Aircraft tires differ significantly from car tires, lacking wear bars and requiring daily pressure checks according to the Pilot's Operating Handbook, not the tire's sidewall, to prevent issues like vibration from improper inflation.
Aircraft tire maintenance, including changing or even just inflating, is a complex process requiring specialized tools, specific techniques, and often the guidance or verification of an experienced mechanic (A&P).
Common flight school tire issues include flat spots from hard braking, and any visible chords necessitate grounding the aircraft immediately, with pilots urged to avoid flying with compromised tires and to verify reported issues are addressed.
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.
