[Pilots] AMO Report

[Jerry Rosendahl]

*MN Wing Aircraft Maintenance Report - 9/8/24*

*1.  Open Discrepancies - where did they go?*
At one point a few weeks ago we had over 40 discrepancies on the fleet. As
of this morning there are 12. As I mentioned in the last few updates, we
were experiencing some delays in approvals and parts deliveries. Those
issues have all been taken care of and we're back to operating as we were.
The current discrepancies list is attached. We currently have 3 aircraft
DOWN for maintenance - one for mags overhaul (they are due to arrive on
Monday), one for prop overhaul (it should be back within a week), and one
at Wipaire getting the autopilot trim servo replaced and software reloaded
(it should be back within a week also). Let's hope we don't ever have to go
back to having 8 aircraft DOWN at any one point.

*2.  NHQ, FAA and USAF oversight:*
Recently we've seen a more aggressive approach to oversight of any issues
involving flying and maintaining our aircraft. The issues we've seen follow
up on so far have been; hard nose gear landing that caused a crack in the
nose landing gear bracket, hard landing that caused a flat spot on a tire
down to the cords, out of date navigation databases in our GPS units, and 2
emergencies declared for electrical failure. DO Bestul and DOV Daly have
been looking into these and will take appropriate action.

*3.  Preflight and post flight inspections:*
Let's be honest, we as pilots do a pretty good job of preflight inspections
and and a pretty poor job of post flight inspections! Disagree? Based on
the discrepancies that are found when brought into maintenance
(unreported), I can tell you that statement is true. Our new DO and DOV
team has asked us to report these discrepancies to them for follow up. Your
flight isn't complete until your post flight inspection and your paperwork
is complete.

*4.  DO monthly aircraft status reports - Nav database & checklists issues:*
I appreciate the monthly reports that come in, indicating status and any
minor equipment issues. We try to correct any issues when we next see the
aircraft. The biggest issue I continually see is out of date nav databases.
Our maintenance contractor does not update these. NHQ has specifically said
this is a Wing issue to handle. Some of you know I've been harping about
this since I got this job. I don't understand why flying squadrons don't
have at least one person who can keep these updated. Two is even better.
This issue has come up more than once from the USAF. They are paying for
the subscriptions. All we have to do is keep them up to date. The current
nav database runs from 9/5 to 10/3. Another issue is having out of date
normal procedures and emergency procedures checklists in the aircraft. When
in maintenance, I try to check the dates for currency. It is not uncommon
for me to find multiple checklists in an aircraft including both current
and out of date checklists. DOs should be verifying currency when
completing the status report, not just putting down the date on what's in
the aircraft. To verify - go to Eservices, then to ORMS, then to search
checklists.

*5.  When dropping off aircraft at Maintenance:*
All flights into maintenance, whether at Fleming or Stanton, must be fueled
as part of your job just like other flights. If you don't, the next flight
(which might be a C12 that's paid for personally) will have to fuel. Also,
all of the usual post flight work should be completed as normal. Leaving
seat belts flopping, water bottles on the floor, sunglasses in the seat
back pockets, etc. is messy and gets passed on to the next pilot/crew. By
the way, we've seen these items and many more.

*6.  Dumpster in the Wing hangar:*
The dumpster in the Wing hangar is for glider and glider metal parts
disposal. This will be an ongoing process to complete. These parts are from
a collection of damaged gliders over the past several years. NHQ recently
gave approval to dispose of these.

*7.  *
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