Pre-Flight Inspection after Aircraft Painting

[Greg Banfield]

Been giving a lot of thought to this and wanted to get other’s input. After a complete strip and paint job, what pre flight inspection is appropriate? Now, before we get too deep into the weeds, let’s assume the paint shop is well regarded, professional and you have done your homework and know they do quality work. With that said, I understand a complete pre-flight of control surfaces, and visual inspection of landing gear and all areas where leftover masking material could be hiding is in order. What about swinging the gear, how about a few high speed runs. If you can’t swing the gear, would you fly with gear down until you could

? How much is too much inspection and how little is too little.

[9089P]

About 10 yrs ago I had my Comanche painted at a shop recommended by a number of people. After they mounted my brand new Johnston tips upside down, I started having doubts. So, I hired an IA on the field (Kingman, Az) to do a complete inspection of the aircraft after the painters finished and before the bride got in to fly it home. The bride always does the preflights whether its her leg or mine. She's a dental hygienist and as you would expect meticulous. This can sometimes be trying.

So she arrives to get the aircraft, and with the IA who charged me for 2 hrs labor, she starts a preflight that lasted over an hour. This included sumping the tanks where she found 8 qts of water. My advice would be to check the fuel carefully. I would assume nothing.

Good luck, Don

[David Pyle]

Good advice. My experience was that fresh paint or some mixture of paint and gunk was in the spinner. When the engine was first started that stuff made such a mess that I had to leave it with the painter to clean and touch up. Fortunately there was no charge for that.

[N3322G]

Greg,

In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much inspection.

Because I know what I don't know, I did not have the twin painted at a shop on my field - even though they do great work - because they expect the owner to reassemble the aircraft or bring in an A&P. We elected to go to a shop in Ohio that had an A&P/IA for an owner - and he has a 180.

That being said, we still did extensive inspection on the ground - double teamed - both husband and self. The first flight for us after annual or paint was the same - climb over the airport, check the gear horn, the gear extension and retraction. The paint shop had already had it on jacks and tested the gear - they won't let a retractable leave the shop without this step. There's more we did and it is embedded in the blog.

It is a bit long at 5 pages but the blog that my Tribe Chief requested is on the chat portion of the website at
http://www.comancheflyer.com/forum2/vie ... 322g+paint

You specifically asked about the gear - I'd ask the shop how they stripped it and that may impact what you look for when you inspect it. I would highly recommend reviewing the Maurice Taylor videos on pre-flight and plan on spending some time on a creeper to look at the gear in comfort.

Hope this helps and hope all goes without a hitch - please post final photos.

[Greg Banfield]

Thanks for all the good input- I asked, and the shop has jacks so will swing the gear. Will post final pic and let you know how the inspection went- Should be done end of this month-

Greg

[Greg Banfield]

Finished - Did a complete inspection- all worked except a trim issue- investigation showed the right rudder cable attachment to pilot pedal was not seated correctly in the attaching eyelets. Great paint work and shop. If you are in the Ormond Beach FL area- I would recommend the shop.

[N3322G]

Greg,
wow - that looks beautiful! I especially like the wing tip design element repetition.

[David Pyle]

Nice combination of the original (1963-65) factory paint scheme with modern touches. Traditional colors. Just right.

[md11flyer]

Nice! I know that paint jobs prices vary with amount of metal and fiberglass work.. but if you don't mind saying, What was your total cost
for the paint job?

Gary

[Greg Banfield]

Gary-

Price for stripping, disassemble, prep and paint, re-assemble, log book sign off; 15K (DuPont Aviation Finish / clear coat the Red sections and Radome section). I added 10% more with new Camloc kit from Milspec 600.00, Stab Tips 300.00, Wing tip lens covers- 150.00,Radome mask 230.00, some engine work while cowls where off and new door seal. There was some extra metal work as well but not much. About mid price range from the quotes I received, and got a high quality job.

[md11flyer]

Thanks Greg. Again she looks very nice! I will have to bite the bullet soon as well.
The paint is starting to flake around the seams and is about 18 years old.

Gary

J

[John Johnson]

Hi Guys, This is too late to be of use to Greg, but I did want to mention one "killer" post-paint item that needs to be checked. I had a P-Baron repainted at C------n 25 years ago. It looked good and I was satisfied, but checked it over carefully anyway when I went to pick up. Upon running the elevator trim to the nose up position, it stuck and would not return to neutral or nose down. Turns out they'd got some overspray on the trim actuator jack screw rod, which bound up when the paint was drawn into the acuator by trim movement. I couldn't move it electrically or with the manual trim wheel. Had that happened in flight, I doubt I would have been strong enough to keep the nose down for long, especially if we'd experienced a run-away trim condition. On takeoff it would have been extremely difficult to handle. Not at all likely, but potentially lethal if it happened. So run your trim up and down to the limits before you take off!
John

[Hansmeister]

Check if the paint bridged any seam lines, ie. the nose cover has to come off. See if the paint bridged between the cover and the fiberglass nose. If paint is bridged across any panel lines, then paint will need to be cut to get the cover off.

[MULEFLY]

What is the name of the shop that did the paint... the one picture looks wonderful!
Jim

[Greg Banfield]

Shop was Saltaire- They have a website and face book- Owners are Scott and Joe, both with aviation degrees and both hold AP certs. As far as painting over skin panel seams, they removed every part of the plane that was removable and painted as an individual section. They sent progress pictures on a regular basis.

And one nice feature they do is paint inside cowls white (Air Force trick) -- you can see any oil drips very easily --