Inside the Plane Preflight Checklist

Part of the Video Series How to Fly an Airplane

Viewing videos requires the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Get the latest Flash player.

Learn what to do before taking off in an airplane in this free how to fly video.

Rating:
Views: 1,383
Comments: 0 (comment now)

Favorited: 5 | Add to Favorites

Tags: flying, planes
Bookmark at:

All Videos in the Series, How to Fly an Airplane

Member Comments

Video Transcript

Inside the Plane Preflight Checklist
Hi, I'm Dave Pressy with St. Charles Flying Service on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment we're going to talk about the pre-flight of the airplane on the inside, the preflight starts on the inside of the aircraft. We want to start with our checklist, a checklist we use throughout the flight to make sure that we're getting all the required items that we need. So the first thing we need to do here is check our legal documents. We have several documents that the aircraft has to have in order for it to be legal to fly. In this case we have an Air Worthiness Certificate, we have a registration certificate, and we also have some weight and balance information to make sure the plane is loaded properly. Once we check these we put them right back here so that they're visible to everyone on the airplane. After that what we want to do is remove the gust lock or control lock, this keeps the aircraft controls from moving on the ground if we get a gust of wind or something, this way they won't move around the airplane, they'll be secure. Next thing we want to do is check a few things on the interior of the cockpit. We're gonna turn on the electrical power to the airplane, we want to make sure our fuel gages are working and that we're hearing the gyroscopes and the instrument panel starting to spin. All that looks good. Also, we want to put down the flaps, master switch turns back off again. Next thing we want to check is to make sure that the seats are secure and that the seat belts are secure and not frayed. Another thing we want to check is our Power Operating Handbook, which has all the limitations and procedures for flying the aircraft. This needs to be in the airplane before we fly.

About the Expert

Expert: Dave Pressy has been a flight instructor in the St. Louis Area for over four years, and a pilot for more than seven years. He has accumulated nearly 1200 hours of flight time. Read More