Aeronca Annual Inspection Helps and Hints

As an owner, you can inspect all you want as long as you don't disassemble certain parts.... use these forms to guide your inspection. If you inspect your own airplane before the annual, you can head off many problems and also alert your IA to areas you would like to have looked at. Here are some sample forms... there is a very complete listing at

http://www.citabria.com/cog/Main1.htm

Go to the technical area and there is the form in .pdf format

http://cardinal.mlink.net/html/webnav/own.htm

The Cessna Cardinal page has a copy of Cessna's annual inspection form... use the links on the side to go there...

Here are a few others. This will take a while to load for one reason. I scanned them in a size that is big enough for you to print at home or office. To do that, right click on the image... that should bring up a menu that allows you to open the image on its own web page, as a separate image. Then use the browser's print command to print the image, fitted on the full page. So first of all, the one page form:

And here is a three page checklist that is a little more complete to guide your Aeronca inspection. Aeroncas need special care in the area around the tail post/lower longerons for rust, the wood wing spars, the tail wheel and the area around the landing gear and the lower door posts for rust... these are the only problem areas that are in the design... after 50 years of use, it's not much.

These forms are a guide to help you work on your own airplane within the limits of the FAR's. As an Aeronca owner, you will benefit from doing an owner assisted annual. The pulling apart of the airplane and putting it all back together will take at least two or three hours... you can save $100 easily on the annual by helping out and you will be a better pilot by knowing your airplane inside and out. You also should be very familiar with the AD's on your airplane, the design features such as the floating ailerons, fuel system and the Goodyear brake adjusting features and the best money you'll ever spend is to get all the back issues you can of the Aeronca Aviators Club newsletter, the National Aeronca Association magazine and the newsletters from Buzz Wagner's Aeronca Lovers Club... you will save a lot on every annual with the wisdom they have... Aeroncas as are simple as they come and keep them dry and sheltered and they will last a long time.

Typical problem areas:

Brake adjustment and Goodyear wheel condition, Magnetos, Oleo gear maintenance, tailwheel wear, fabric condition and wooden stringers and formers, wood spars and fittings....but usually nothing too major! The Continental A-65 engine is getting a little bit hard to find parts for, but there are new cylinders now being produced and there are enough Cubs, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts and such around to make it a pretty good sized market still. And in a hundred years, there are always all those O-200dreds from Cessna's run of C150's....

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/3287/Links.html