Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Airworthiness Requirements
31
Airworthiness Requirements
Madison Petrie
Introduction
Airworthiness is a "measure of an aircraft's suitability for safe flight."
The FAA has several pertinent regulations we must follow to ensure that our aircraft is worthy of safe flight. These regulations cover things like aircraft inspections, documents, and certain instruments that must be functioning. In this lesson, we will learn about what those regulations are to help us make decisions about whether an aircraft is airworthy or not.
Regulations to be Covered
Regulations to be Covered
- FAR 91.203: Civil Aircraft -- Certifications Required
- FAR 91.205: Instruments and Equipment Required
- FAR 21.213: Inoperative Instruments and Equipment
- FAR 21.207: Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT)
- FAR 91.405: Maintenance Required
- FAR 91.409: Inspections
Certificates Required
FAR 91.203: No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it has: GMARROW!
- GPS Manual (if installed & required)
- MEL (if aircraft has one)
- Airworthiness certificate
- Radio Operators License (carried by pilot)
- Registration -- Must be in full view of crew / pass.
- Where is it displaced in the C172?
- Operating limitations (POH)
- Weight & balance (also POH)
Registration -- lasts 3 years
Duration of Certificates
Instrument and Equipment Requirements
FAR 91.205 lists out the minimum required equipment for day / night VFR and IFR flight
- Day VFR: TOMATOFLAMESS
- Night VFR: TOMATOFLAMESS + FLAPS
- IFR: GRABCARD
FAR 91.213: To MEL or not to MEL?
- Minimum equipment list (MEL): an FAA approved listing of equipment that may be inoperable
- If you have one for your aircraft, you MUST use it!
- If you can't find the inoperative item within the MEL, the aircraft is NOT AIRWORTHY
Acronyms
Acronyms
Day VFR: TOMATOFLAMESS
- Tachometer (measures RPM!)
- Oil pressure gauge
- Magnetic compass
- Altimeter
- Temperature gauge (liquid-cooled engines)
- Oil temperature gauge (air-cooled engines)
- Fuel quantity indicator
- Landing gear position indicator
- Airspeed indicator
- Manifold pressure gauge
- ELT
- Seatbelts
- Strobe / anticollision lights
Night VFR: TOMATOFLAMESS + FLAPS
- Fuses
- Landing lights
- Anticollision lights
- Position lights (NAV light)
- Source of electricity (alternator / generator)
IFR: GRABCARD
- Generator (or alternator)
- Rate of turn indicator (turn indicator / turn & bank indicator)
- Altimeter, sensitive (Kollsman window)
- Ball (inclinometer)
- Clock (digital display or sweep second hand)
- Attitude indicator
- Radios for navigation / communication
- Directional gyro (heading indicator)
Don't have an MEL?
Don't have an MEL?
Check the following:
1.) Kinds of Equipment list (Chapter 2 of POH)
2.) VFR Day Type Certificate (FAA website)
3.) Airworthiness Directives
4.) FAR 91.205
5.) PIC's decision -- will not having this item compromise safety of flight?
If the item is not listed in any of the above, the inoperative equipment must be removed / deactivated and placarded. The aircraft is now airworthy until the next required inspection.
Inspections
FARs 91.409, 91.411, 91.413, and 91.207 cover inspections that our aircraft must have. Just remember AV1ATE:
- Annual (once every 12 calendar months)
- VOR if IFR (30 days)
- 100 hour inspection (if for rent / hire)
- Altimeter / pitot-static system (24 calendar months)
- Transponder (24 calendar months)
- ELT (after 1 hour of use, 50% of useful life, or 12 calendar months)
Whose responsibility is it?
Whose responsibility is it?
FAR 91.405: Each owner or operator shall have that aircraft inspected as perscribed
Who owns / operates our aircraft?
Answer: UND Aerospace
Thus, they are responsible for having the aircraft we fly inspected and maintained according to federal aviation regulations
100 Hour Inspection FAQ's
100 Hour Inspection FAQ's
Aircraft used for rent or hire need to have an inspection performed every 100 hours
- This verbiage ("rent or hire") can get a little confusing, so here's what you need to know:
- If the aircraft is being used for flight instruction, it needs to have a 100 hour
- If the aircraft is being used to carry passengers for hire, it needs to have a 100 hour
- If the aircraft is being rented out to a customer without an instructor, it does not need a 100 hour inspection
What happens if I get a 100 hour inspection late? Early?
- You can overfly your 100 hour inspection by up to 10 hours
- This is ONLY if those 10 hours are used to transport the aircraft to an airport where the inspection can be performed
- If 100 hours are exceeded, that amount of time is taken off of the next required inspection
- Ex: overflying by 5 hours means your next inspection is due in 95 hours
- If you underfly your 100 hour inspection, those hours are not transferred to the next inspection
- You still only have 100 hours to get the next inspection done
What's the difference between a 100 hour inspection and an annual inspection?
- Very little when it comes to the actual items being inspected!
- The main difference is the amount of time allowed between the inspections
- An annual may be substituted for a 100 hour inspection, but a 100 hour inspection cannot take the place of an annual inspection!