Do you turn around to inspect your run-up spot for leaks?

Do you inspect your run-up spot for leaks?

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AV8R_87

AV8R_87

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I was reading the report for an accident that happened last year, and the mishap aircraft had left a big puddle of oil at the run-up spot. And I recall reading something similar a couple years ago. Made me think about adding a checklist item to inspect the run-up spot.
Do any of you do this? Now that we're talking about it, would you consider doing that for future flights?

Accident Beechcraft A23-24 Musketeer Super III N6945Q , Sunday 10 December 2023

On December 10, 2023, about 1019 central standard time, a Beech A23-24 airplane, N6945Q, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The pilot and his ...
asn.flightsafety.org
 
Not a bad idea, can’t say I’ve thought of that.
 
Important to do after any maintenance, that is when the oil leak errors are most likely to occur.
 
geezer said:
Important to do after any maintenance, that is when the oil leak errors are most likely to occur.
Click to expand...

I do a run up at some spot and then either taxi back or shut down there to remove cowl and check for leaks.
 
no, that's my wingman's job...though I'm a 'servant leader' and have been known to pick up the thicker one at the bar. And that's how I met my ex....o_O:fingerwag:
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Not a bad idea. My oil pressure usually goes over 100 psi during the run up, so if something was going to spring a leak it'd be then. Often not practical, particularly on a taxiway, but at home I could do a quick 90 degree turn and look for an oil slick.
 
AV8R_87 said:
I was reading the report for an accident that happened last year, and the mishap aircraft had left a big puddle of oil at the run-up spot. And I recall reading something similar a couple years ago. Made me think about adding a checklist item to inspect the run-up spot.
Do any of you do this? Now that we're talking about it, would you consider doing that for future flights?

Accident Beechcraft A23-24 Musketeer Super III N6945Q , Sunday 10 December 2023

On December 10, 2023, about 1019 central standard time, a Beech A23-24 airplane, N6945Q, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The pilot and his ...
asn.flightsafety.org
Click to expand...
don’t forget to inspect area before your run up in case the guy before you didn’t do a turn around.
 
I see several videos from wing and/or lower fuselage mounted cameras, and often wondered if these could be used for real time monitoring by tablet/cellphone.
Seems like it would be a good (extra) way to check for gear down, other problems like oil leaks, or MI6 agents crawling along the bottom to takeover your plane midflight, etc.

Do any of you monitor cams in real time?

(and by MI6 I mean FAA) ;)
 
No, because the prop wash would be blowing it so hard that it won't fall down and puddle.
 
Skyrys62 said:
Do any of you monitor cams in real time?
Click to expand...
With the gopro cams the monitor function dramatically reduces the amount of battery life due to the overhead of managing the wifi data stream. I'm sure there are people who do it, but I don't know anyone who does.
 
This accident happened at one of my local airports. I did not know the people involved, but many people I know did.

I saw pictures of the oil puddles and trail shortly after the accident. Sad deal. Especially since this airport is usually busy enough that normally it's likely somebody would have seen something and said something, preventing the accident. But apparently the taxi and takeoff happened during an unfortunate lull in airport traffic.

And there aren't many great landing sites off that end of the runway. That concrete yard would be pretty scary if that was your only option.
 
rwellner98 said:
With the gopro cams the monitor function dramatically reduces the amount of battery life due to the overhead of managing the wifi data stream. I'm sure there are people who do it, but I don't know anyone who does.
Click to expand...
I wondered if that was an issue.
Also wouldn't help much at night without some sort of enhancement.
A small wire powered camera (like a vehicle parking camera?) might be another possibility.
Probably not worth it for most, but could have their place for some.
 
Seems like most leaks large enough to manifest on a runup (and not get lost in prop wash) would've already left a pretty big puddle in the hangar or tiedown spot. I try to always check on post flight for anything unusual on the belly and always take a good look at the hangar floor on the preflight. My GoPros are pretty reluctant to connect in preview mode (if at all) from under the wings or tail in the Comanche - I usually just set them to scheduled capture mode and leave them be until after the flight.
 
I found mine by seeing the oil pressure at 0, shutting the engine off, and getting out of the plane.
 
Skyrys62 said:
I see several videos from wing and/or lower fuselage mounted cameras, and often wondered if these could be used for real time monitoring by tablet/cellphone.
Seems like it would be a good (extra) way to check for gear down, other problems like oil leaks, or MI6 agents crawling along the bottom to takeover your plane midflight, etc.

Do any of you monitor cams in real time?

(and by MI6 I mean FAA) ;)
Click to expand...
In a similar thought, every time I've seen this conversation pop back up I've thought of some guy I saw somewhere, probably youtube, with one of those mini-P-51 mustang kits. He mounted small camera in the air scoop as a blindspot taxi-cam. Seen similar setups in other taildraggers too.

Seems like a decent idea to consider mounting such a cam so that the wheels, the exhaust pipe, and underbelly of the engine can be seen....
 
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