Aircraft Maintenance Tasks and Intervals

[GuppyWN]

Ralph,

Thanks but that's 7 pages long. Didn't know if someone had made up a one page easy view grid for the intervals. I've been meaning to make one. It's probably time.

[3kdscf]

If you feel those items, and others, are important for an annual, just add them to the list. I have added about 1/2 dozen items to my checklist.
The fuel filter definitely needs to be added if it is not part of the engine 100 hour list.
I personally don't check tank finger strainers; they are very coarse and if they ever start to plug up there will be early warning in the fuel filter. They are also very difficult to check for no good reason.
Spar hinges have never been a problem area.

Thanks Jim!

I was just paranoid I was missing some checklist somewhere that would put me in legal trouble with the FAA. What you say about the finger strainers make complete sense, there would be plenty of warning. In the end, we are the manufacturer and have the knowledge about what maintenance is prudent to do on a yearly basis.

Thanks again!

Scooby

[n85ae]

My annual, is actually an ongoing never ending process, and once a year I sign off the paperwork.
Some things are seasonal like prop torque, fuel injection pressures, etc. I'm not sure if a once a year
big teardown is really a great idea. I tend to think as a one man operation I do things better, and
more thoroughly if I just focus on one area at a time.

This process is better, because I'm not in a rush, and I tend to pay extra attention to double checking
my work when I am not in a hurry to get through a big list of things.

For example recently I completely reworked my tailspring, tailwheel, tailwheel tire, and associated
hardware. This was pretty much a weekend operation. Speaking of which I still cannot understand
why people tend to not like Maule tailwheels. Mine is simple, works well, very rugged, and I have had
absolutely zero problems with it.

Next I spent a lot of time servicing plugs, mag timing, looking at the starter, oil and filter, etc.
this was another weekend.

Another weekend I replaced the main tires, and relined the brakes.

Pretty soon I will yank the seat, and work around the header, and while the seat is out inspect
everything under there. That will be a weekends worth of work.

Whenever I'm around some moving linkages, etc. I tend to say "oh, better squirt some lube
on these while I'm here". So that just gets done, here and there, and sort of informally

By the time a year rolls around, I will have looked at and serviced everything, and a lot of it will
be based on condition. However, I won't be doing a one shot "annual inspection"


Jeff