Alchemy
Well-Known Member
Went to the FSDO for my CFI checkride on thursday. It didn't go well. All my paperwork was in order but when the maintenance inspector went to examine the aircraft (a c182rg) he came back with 7 (!!!!) discrepencies. To top it off, the plane had just come out of a 100 hour. Needless to say, the Examiner and Maintenance inspector didn't have too many nice things to say about the flight school or the mechanic after that.
Basically, my checkride turned into an incident investigation. Both my examiner and the maintenance inspector were taking numerous pictures of the aircraft and started writing reports. The inspector jumped all over me and asked if I had even done a preflight before I flew the plane to the FSDO. He told me that he should technically write me up for a violation or at least fail my checkride for bringing an unairworthy aircraft, but since I was "just a kid" he was going to let me off the hook. I had to give him a written statement about the condition of the airplane on a blank piece of paper. I wrote:
"The discrepencies pointed out on N***** by the FAA on February 22, 2004 were not observed to be present during my pre-flight inspection of the aircraft on February 21, 2004".
The discrepencies pointed out were
1. Oil in the cockpit due to a bad seal on the oil pressure gauge.
2. Low Nose strut (there was still about 1.5-2" of chrome showing)
3. Loose housing for the left nav light
4. Exposed safety wire in the nose gear door bay.
5. One missing rivet on the left mid-fuselage
6. One loose rivet and loose panel on the left-mid fuselage
7. Various screws missing throughout the aircraft.
I didn't recieve a letter of discontinuance and the inspector treated the whole thing as if the practical test had never started. The airplane is still in maintenance at the airport where the FSDO is located. With the approval of the owner, I opted to have the plane repaired there and drive myself back home rather than obtain a ferry permit.
Personally, I think the inspectors were put-off as soon as they saw the airplane....it had dead bugs on the front of the fuselage and the leading edge of the wings, and as usual, had quite a dirty underside. From the moment they laid eyes on the plane it was a down hill slide. They actually encouraged me to find another airplane to bring to the checkride next time, but my only real choice is to have all the discrepencies on this one repaired, have it cleaned spotlessly, and hope it recieves a warmer reception from the feds next time......
Basically, my checkride turned into an incident investigation. Both my examiner and the maintenance inspector were taking numerous pictures of the aircraft and started writing reports. The inspector jumped all over me and asked if I had even done a preflight before I flew the plane to the FSDO. He told me that he should technically write me up for a violation or at least fail my checkride for bringing an unairworthy aircraft, but since I was "just a kid" he was going to let me off the hook. I had to give him a written statement about the condition of the airplane on a blank piece of paper. I wrote:
"The discrepencies pointed out on N***** by the FAA on February 22, 2004 were not observed to be present during my pre-flight inspection of the aircraft on February 21, 2004".
The discrepencies pointed out were
1. Oil in the cockpit due to a bad seal on the oil pressure gauge.
2. Low Nose strut (there was still about 1.5-2" of chrome showing)
3. Loose housing for the left nav light
4. Exposed safety wire in the nose gear door bay.
5. One missing rivet on the left mid-fuselage
6. One loose rivet and loose panel on the left-mid fuselage
7. Various screws missing throughout the aircraft.
I didn't recieve a letter of discontinuance and the inspector treated the whole thing as if the practical test had never started. The airplane is still in maintenance at the airport where the FSDO is located. With the approval of the owner, I opted to have the plane repaired there and drive myself back home rather than obtain a ferry permit.
Personally, I think the inspectors were put-off as soon as they saw the airplane....it had dead bugs on the front of the fuselage and the leading edge of the wings, and as usual, had quite a dirty underside. From the moment they laid eyes on the plane it was a down hill slide. They actually encouraged me to find another airplane to bring to the checkride next time, but my only real choice is to have all the discrepencies on this one repaired, have it cleaned spotlessly, and hope it recieves a warmer reception from the feds next time......