Kenny Keller walks through the Robinson R-44 preflight using the POH as reference. Remove covers and tie-downs, clear frost from rotor blades, verify maintenance records and airworthiness, and inspect for damage or leaks. Check torque-stripe integrity and temperature markings on critical components, and use an eight-foot ladder or the right-rear seat support to access the main rotor hub safely.
Alright, so we're gonna get started with the Robinson R44 Preflight and I'm using the Robinson R44 POH on the iPad. So first remove all covers and tie downs. We have the aircraft hangered so there are no tie downs whatsoever on the aircraft. So we're good to go there. Remove even small accumulations of frost, ice or snow, especially from rotor blades. No problem. Again, we're inside. Check maintenance records to verify aircraft is airworthy. I went through that in our preparation videos for the trip back home. Why we believe that this aircraft is airworthy. As far as all the inspections and service bulletins, an eight foot step ladder is recommended for pre flight inspection of the main rotor. However, main rotor hub may be reached by first opening right rear seat and stepping on seat support and then stepping on deck below the auxiliary fuel tank. So let's take a look at that. So it is acceptable lift the seat up and it says on the seat support. So that should be right here. Then you can step right here and it shows, has two words, step here with an arrow. So it is acceptable to stand right here. Next, check general condition of aircraft and verify no visible damage, fluid leakage or abnormal wear. And what I want to point out is we're inside in a hangar. So I'm going to leave some of these panels open as we're opening up the doors. In general, I don't leave doors open on an aircraft. Even if I'm going to open a door and I'm going to come back in just 30 seconds or in five minutes, I close the door. And I first got that from one of the young guys I flew with many years ago and he said anytime you open a door, you close it back up and you latch it, even if you're coming right back. And the reason is, and I totally get this because I've seen what happens later. You get lazy and you're on a ramp somewhere and you have a door open or a cowling open and then you go to do something, you're coming right back. Another helicopter lands in or lands beside you. And in my example, a Sikorsky comes in and almost blew the door off of a jet Ranger I was flying. If that door would have got damaged, that would have been thousands of dollars of damage. And I'd have felt like, you know, a total piece of crap for letting that happen. So since we're inside in a hangar, door's closed, nobody around, I am going to leave certain panels open as we're going around the aircraft. But I don't generally do that. Generally, if I open something up, I latch it back up, even if I'm coming right back in just a couple minutes. So back to the general condition of the aircraft. Since it's been back, there's a couple little drips of oil on the floor. So we'll keep an eye on that. You know, you want to take a general overview of how does the aircraft look. Anything that seems abnormal, you want to check out right away and figure out what's going on. We had an example at one place I worked where all of a sudden one day I went to work and noticed the landing gears all mangled and nobody fesses up. And we check the log sheets for the helicopter. Well, just so happens the owner's son was the last one to fly the aircraft. And of course he didn't do it, and the guy before him said he didn't do it. Nobody ever fessed up to who mangled the landing gear on this helicopter. So it does happen where somebody will damage something, they'll come back in, put it away, and they don't tell anybody. They just leave. So before you even get started, you know, a full general look over the whole entire aircraft. Make sure that, you know, nothing looks out of place. How is the aircraft sitting? Is it sitting normal? Just general overview of everything. Next, it says verify no fretting at seams where parts are joined together. Fretting of aluminum parts produces a fine black powder, while fretting of steel parts produces a red, brown or black residue. So during the pre flight, as we're working our way around, we'll all be looking at the ether rivets along the aircraft, making sure that there's no fretting. Verify. Tele temps show no temperature increase that cannot be attributed to a change in operating conditions. Mechanics draw a reference line to the right of the highest temperature square which has darkened in operation. Verify. Torque stripes on critical fasteners are not broken or missing. So we're going to check those tail temps as we go around the aircraft.
