This is water looks like in the fuel. This was from a Cessna C172RG that had a bad fuel cap gasket. Notice the blue colored 100LL fuel floating above the heavier water.

This rudder damage was found on a Cessna C172. The tail skid had evidently been forced up into the rudder, cracking and damaging it. This was most likely the result of a hard tail-low landing.

This Cessna C172 rudder clearly contacted something causing a dent in the side and scraping along the edge. This may or my not affect airworthiness, but it should be reported and then inspected and determined to be safe for flight by maintenance before flight.

This is the upper portion of a Cessna C172 rudder, near the NAV antenna (just visible in the upper right of the photo). The rudder was rubbing on the vertical stabilizer and was relatively easy to detect due to the paint being worn off in the area of contact.

I saw this Piper on the ramp one day and something caught my eye. The most obvious thing is that someone (hopefully a certified mechanic) has added an angle bracket between the horizontal and vertical stabilizer for some reason - this is what initially caught my eye. Then, upon closer inspection, you notice the fresh pull rivets to the left of the bracket. Next you notice the significant depressions around some of the rivets in the mid to upper portion of the photo. And finally, you notice that three of the rivets are missing their heads altogether, rendering them useless. Something appears to be seriously wrong with this aircraft.

My commercial pilot student detected this bird's nest in the rudder of a Diamond DA40. He then spent a lot of time working to get all of the sticks, grasses, and other nesting items out of the tail. When he was done the pile of nesting materials was huge, about the volume of a softball. Note that this is the actual rudder, not a vertical stabilizer. Who knows how this might have affected the behavior of the rudder in flight.

This is the underside of a Cessna C172 wingtip that has clearly been scrapped against something else (another aircraft's wing perhaps?). This may still be airworthy, but it should probably still be reported and then inspected and cleared by maintenance before flight.

This damage was detected on a Cessna C172. Someone obviously hit something with the right wingtip and damaged the NAV and possibly the strobe light. Luckily, it looks like they just missed damaging the wing itself. Either way, this aircraft is not airworthy until repaired.

The green colored lens on this Cessna C172 right wing position light has fallen off inside of the clear plastic cover. The light still works, but it shines white and not green, as required. So this aircraft is not airworthy for flight between sunset and sunrise until the lens is put back in place.

This one is a bit more subtle than some of the others on this page. But if you look closely you will notice that the edge of this propeller has hit something, most likely the ground. Most prop strikes require a tear down, inspection, and repair (if/as appropriate) of both the prop and the engine. This case was no exception and the aircraft was down for many weeks.

This crack was detected on the composite prop of a Diamond DA40. You can see the subtle indication of the crack on the leading edge, but it can be easy to miss. In this particular case it was easy to notice because of the pealing paint in the region of the crack. Note that the paint is probably pealing due to the flexing of the prop, and possible water infiltration, in the region of the crack.

This was detected on a Cessna T210 prop. There is supposed to be a ring around the prop where the yellow line is visible. The other two blades of the prop had the ring, but this one was missing. Among other things, this will cause an imbalance issue.

This is what can happen if you turn the pitot tube heat on but forget to remove the pitot cover. Not only does it destroy the cover, but it can also cause melted material to block some or all of the entrance to the inside of the tube (as happened in this case) and adversely affect the airspeed reading even once the melted cover is removed.

This right wing of a Piper Archer was damaged by a bird strike. I was in this airplane when the bird strike happened (at night - we never did see the bird) and I took this photo after we landed. We grounded the plane and maintenance was able to repair the damage a few days later.

This is the lower hinge on the main door of a Piper Warrior. Notice that all of the screws and/or rivets have pulled away except for one. Not only did the door not shut easily/properly, but this door could come off in-flight!

While pre-flighting this Cessna C172 my student noticed that the exhaust pipe "looked wet" and asked me to take a closer look. A quick swipe with a finger and a sniff test indicated that the pipe was "wet" with fuel. Further inspection via the cooling air intake indicated that fuel was leaking in that area of the engine and dripping down to the exhaust pipe.

It is very hard to see in this photo, but there is fuel pooled on the metal plate holding this section of the fuel line at the sample port of a Piper Warrior. My student noticed this because fuel was leaking down the sample port even without pressing on the release valve.

The wet spots under this Diamond DA40NG wing indicate a possible fuel leak, especially since there is a seam on the underside of the wing just above the wet spot. (More below.)

This is the underside of the DA40NG wing mentioned above. This seam is directly above the wet spot in the ground. If you look closely you will see drops of fuel on the molding that covers the seam. When I pressed the molding fuel poured out onto the ground.

This is the underside of a gas cap from a Piper Dakota. Notice that the gasket is broken and a chunk is missing between the 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock position. This gasket will no longer keep water out of the tank and it must be replaced. And where did the chunk of gasket go? Hopefully not in the tank, but the tank should probably be inspected. Cracked gaskets should be replaced before they get so bad that a piece goes missing.

The nose wheel strut on a Cessna C182 should have at least 3 inches of travel available. This one only has about 1" available (the shiny section is the travel area).

This is what over-priming (or a significant fuel leak) looks like when the excess or leaking fuel hits the nose wheel fairing on a Cessna C172. The blue dye of 100LL is quite telling.

This cowling on a Cessna C172 has multiple problems. Notice the big chunk out of the rear edge where it overlaps the fuselage skin. Also notice that not one but two of the cowling screws are missing, one on each side of the missing chunk.

This leaking brake fluid was detected on a Bonanza. This was the result of a damaged O-ring as a result of overheating of the brakes. Notice the fluid not only on the ground but also on the caliper and the tire. This leak was detected during post-flight inspection (after the right brake failed during the landing roll-out which almost ended in departing the runway to the left).

Flat spots on a tire are bad. This one is particularly bad since it is worn all the way through to the cord. This is what can happen when someone lands with the brakes on, or locks up the brakes during the roll-out.

This somewhat subtle issue was detected by my client. The oil for the aircraft (which lives in a box in the baggage area of the plane and is restocked by the club) was not the correct grade (aka weight or viscosity) for our location and time of year. According to the placard, and based on our prevailing temperatures, 20W50 was called for but 15W50 was provided.

The hole in this scat tube (air duct hose) is small, but it should be repaired or replaced before the problem gets bigger. The frustrating thing here is that this aircraft JUST came out of annual. Did the shop that did the annual miss this, or did they cause it?

This Piper Warrior's engine is running but the vacuum-powered attitude gyro is showing a nearly 30 degree bank to the left even though the aircraft is sitting nearly level on the ground. Sometimes the gyros in older planes take a few seconds to right themselves, but this one never really did right itself, even after several minutes. Never take a plane with a gyro like this IFR (IMC). Detected after engine start.

This Cirrus SR22's engine is running but the standby attitude gyro is showing a nearly 30 degree bank to the right, and a 20 degree nose-down pitch, even though the aircraft is sitting level on the ground. Note that this is an electric gyro, not a vacuum gyro. This gyro stayed in this attitude for over 10 minutes and never did right itself until we went to full take-off power and the bus voltage went to 28.2 volts. (27.8 volts at idle was evidently not enough to overcome the internal problems of this gyro.) Never take a plane with a gyro like this IFR (IMC). Detected after engine start.

This Cessna C182's prop governor is leaking, spewing oil around the engine's cooling air inlet. If enough oil leaks, or the pressure can't be maintained, this will result in a losing prop pitch control (it will default to fine-pitch/high-speed). Or, worse yet, if enough oil or oil pressure is lost the engine might seize up since the same oil system that controls the prop also cools and lubricates the engine.

The engine cowling is not properly positioned or secured on this Cirrus SR20. You can see that the top and bottom portions sections are not properly joined, and that neither are secured with the required screw that is missing. Also, less obvious but no less important, is that the bottom section is rubbing up against the back plate of the propeller spinner. This could result in all sorts of problems in flight, including a possible fire from the friction.