Since I got back from PNG I have been working on an annual inspection on a local plane that has been a regular at MMS for quite a few years. It is a 1959 Piper Comanche, and although it is in pretty good shape, it is still 18 years older than me, so it has a few wee jobs that are needing attention. Part of any annual inspection is a documentation review. This is where we make sure that airworthiness certificates and registration documents are valid, and that the Airworthiness Directives that are applicable to the plane are being dealt with. Airworthiness directives are mandatory requirements issued by the FAA to ensure that specific issues on airframes, engines, or accessories are handled correctly, so that they remain airworthy. These can be for anything from checking a specific part of structure every year for cracks, to ensuring that a particular engine component is changed within a certain time-frame. At the moment we have the plane up on jacks; we had an AD to work through on the landing gear, which involved checking tolerances on the bushings that the landing gear pivot on as they fold into the aircraft, measuring the “over centre” dimensions that lock the landing gear down, and replacing some time-limited parts. The main gear is all now back together, but the nose gear had some parts that had to be sent out to a specialist for repair. Once the parts come back, we’ll reassemble the nose gear and the plane should be just about ready to be returned to it’s owner.
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