Updated October 2026
A preflight inspection is the cabin check and walk-around a pilot does before every flight to confirm the airplane is fit to fly. Under 14 CFR 91.7(b), the pilot in command is responsible for determining whether the aircraft is in condition for safe flight. The checklist comes from the normal procedures section of the POH, and in our trainers a careful preflight takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
We teach the same order on every airplane: documents and cabin, the walk-around, fuel and oil, then start, taxi and run-up. The details differ between the Piper Warrior, the Cessna 162 and the Diamond DA20-C1. Where they do, the POH checklist for the airplane in front of you wins over anything written here.
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Why The Preflight Is The Most Important 15 Minutes
The preflight is the last point at which a problem costs nothing. Once the engine is running, a defect is harder to deal with, and once you are airborne your options narrow quickly. 14 CFR 91.7(a) says no one may operate a civil aircraft unless it is airworthy. 91.7(b) puts the decision on the pilot in command, who must also end the flight if an unairworthy mechanical, electrical or structural condition appears.
14 CFR 91.103 adds the planning half. Before any flight, the pilot in command becomes familiar with all available information, including runway lengths and takeoff and landing distances. The Private Pilot ACS tests the inspection as Area II, Task A, and its first skill element is one line: inspect the airplane with reference to an appropriate checklist.
The FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C, chapter 2) warns that hasty ground operations diminish the margin of safety. Our airplanes are maintained in our own shop and every one is on the 100-hour inspection cycle as well as the annual. A mechanic's signature from last week still does not cover a fuel cap somebody left loose this morning.
Cabin: ARROW Documents, Master, Fuel Gauges, Flight Controls
Start inside. Students learn the airplane's required paperwork as ARROW.
| Letter | Document | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| A | Airworthiness certificate, displayed at the cabin or cockpit entrance where passengers or crew can read it | 14 CFR 91.203(a)(1) and (b) |
| R | Registration certificate; an initial certificate expires seven years after the last day of the month it was issued | 14 CFR 91.203(a)(2) and 47.40(a) |
| R | Radio station license, needed only for international flights, because domestic aircraft stations are licensed by rule | 47 CFR 87.18(b) |
| O | Operating limitations: the approved flight manual or POH, markings and placards | 14 CFR 91.9 |
| W | Weight and balance data for that airplane | Part of the POH; the Airplane Flying Handbook lists it among the documents to confirm aboard |
Then the cabin items, in POH order. Typically the control lock comes out, and the master, alternator and magneto switches are confirmed off before anyone goes near the propeller. The fuel gauges are read with the master on, so you can compare them with the tanks later. Trim goes to takeoff and the controls move through full travel while you watch the surfaces go the right way. The handbook adds that the fuel selector should move through every position, including OFF. A stiff selector or worn-off markings are not acceptable.
Check your own papers too: pilot or student pilot certificate, medical certificate, photo ID and the logbook with your current endorsements, the same list our first solo page gives. A missing endorsement grounds the flight as surely as a flat tire.
The Walk-Around In Order: Wing, Fuel, Tires, Brakes, Prop, Oil
Every POH gives a route around the airplane, and the point of a route is that you never skip a piece of it. A typical one leaves the cabin, runs down one side to the tail, across the tail, then up the other side to the nose. The Airplane Flying Handbook is specific about what to look for on the way.
- Wings and fuselage, for dents, ripples or distortion along the spar lines, and for dark film around rivets, a sign of a loose one.
- Ailerons, flaps, elevator and rudder, for hinge condition, secure attach points and free movement.
- Fuel, by eye in the tanks, with the grade confirmed and the caps secure. The handbook calls fuel stains a sign of probable leakage, however old they look.
- Tires and brakes. A cut, a bulge or visible cord makes a tire unairworthy, and brake pads need material left and lines free of leaks.
- The propeller, for nicks, cracks, erosion, pitting, corrosion and security. Stay out of its arc whatever the switches say.
- Oil, checked on every preflight.
Add the items the POH covers for your airplane: pitot cover off and the opening clear, static ports clear, the stall warning working, lights and antennas secure. In the low-wing Warrior and DA20 you crouch to see the belly and the underside of the wings. In the high-wing 162 you look up.
Sumping Fuel And Checking Oil
Drain a sample from every drain the POH lists, before every flight, into a clear sampler, and hold it up to the light. The Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge says the fuel strainer should be drained before each flight. You are looking at color, water and debris.
Color first. The Airplane Flying Handbook gives 100LL avgas as dyed blue, 80/87 as red and 100/130 as green. Jet fuel is colorless or straw-colored and does not belong in any of our trainers. Water is heavier than fuel, so it settles to the bottom of the sample as beads or a bubble, sometimes clear and sometimes muddy.
If you find water, keep draining until the samples come out clean, and tell your instructor. The handbook's rule is short: never take off until all water and contaminants have been removed from the engine fuel system. In cold weather, it adds, water in a sump can freeze and block a fuel line.
Check the quantity with your eyes as well as the gauges, and compare the two. In the Warrior you can look into the wing tanks from the wing walk; in the high-wing 162 you need a step to see in. The DA20's filler location and the right way to check its fuel are in its own POH.
Oil comes next. The Airplane Flying Handbook puts typical light-airplane capacity at four to eight quarts, with six common, and says to check the level on every preflight. The minimum for flight and the dipstick markings are in the POH for your airplane. Seat the dipstick properly and latch the access door before you walk away.
Engine Start, Taxi Check And The Run-Up (Mag Check, Carb Heat)
Start with the checklist open, the area clear and "clear prop" called out loud. After start, look for oil pressure within the time the POH allows. On the taxi, test the brakes as soon as you are rolling. Check the instruments in the turns: the turn coordinator shows the turn, the ball swings the other way, and the heading indicator and compass turn the right way. The Warrior and the 162 steer through the rudder pedals. The DA20 has a castering nosewheel and steers by differential braking, which takes a lesson to learn.
The run-up is where the engine proves itself. Stop on firm ground clear of other aircraft and let the airplane roll forward a little so the nosewheel is straight. At Van Nuys that is the run-up at Charlie, before you call the tower.
The magneto check comes first on most lists. At the rpm the POH gives, switch from BOTH to one magneto and back, then to the other and back. The PHAK says a small rpm drop is normal and the allowable drop is in the POH. No drop at all is not normal either. If the drop is too large, or the engine quits on one magneto, the airplane does not fly.
Carburetor heat applies to the Warrior and the 162. Pull it on and the rpm should drop. If it drops and then slowly rises, there was ice in the carburetor. The PHAK says carburetor icing is most likely below 70°F with relative humidity above 80 percent, and possible at temperatures as high as 100°F with humidity as low as 50 percent. A grey May morning in the Valley sits comfortably inside that range.
The DA20's IO-240 is fuel-injected, so there is no carburetor heat to check. The PHAK notes that injection is less susceptible to icing, though impact ice on the air intake is still possible. Finish with the engine instruments in the green, a charge showing, suction in range on airplanes with a vacuum system, the controls free and correct once more, and trim set for takeoff.
Checklists Vs Flows And The Before-Takeoff Briefing
A flow is a memorized sweep of the cockpit in a fixed pattern that sets everything up. A checklist is the written list you read afterward to confirm the flow worked. Professional crews use both. For a student we use the checklist first and build the flow later, because a flow you have not finished learning has gaps you cannot see. The handbook is plain that the AFM or POH checklist, or one based on it, is what you follow.
Read-and-do suits the preflight and run-up. Memory items are for moments when the airplane will not wait, such as an engine failure, and the checklist follows as soon as there is time.
The before-takeoff briefing is the last item, said out loud even when you are solo. Ours covers four things. The runway and the departure. The noise procedure: straight out over the Sepulveda Basin from 16R or 16L, or 1,800 feet before any turn from 34R or 34L. What you will do if the engine fails. And the abort point, the spot on the runway where you should be airborne, or you stop. Our page on emergency procedures and the forced landing covers the engine-failure part.
Warrior, Cessna 162 And DA20 Differences
| Item | Piper Warrior | Cessna 162 Skycatcher | Diamond DA20-C1 | Cessna 172 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our tail numbers | N3034Q, N6312C | N60225, N7030B, N6039M, N179LC, N5208V, N52049 | N306EF, N308EF | Not in our fleet |
| Wing | Low wing; crouch for the underside | High wing, strut-braced; look up | Long, low composite wing | High wing, strut-braced |
| Engine | 160 hp Lycoming O-320-D3G, carbureted | 100 hp Continental O-200-D, carbureted | 125 hp Continental IO-240-B, fuel-injected | Varies by model; the 172S has a fuel-injected Lycoming IO-360 |
| Carburetor heat on the run-up | Yes | Yes | No | Carbureted models only |
| Ground steering | Nosewheel linked to the rudder pedals | Steerable nosewheel | Castering nosewheel, differential braking | Steerable nosewheel |
| Getting in | One door, on the right | Doors that swing upward | Bubble canopy | A door on each side |
| Flaps | Manual lever between the seats | Electric | As described in its POH | Electric on most models |
If you came here looking for a Cessna 172 checklist, the shape of this page carries over and the contents do not. A 172's fuel selector usually has a BOTH position, and its tanks sit in a high wing you need a step to see into. A Warrior draws from one tank at a time, so tank selection is part of the run-up and the cruise. Use the checklist from the POH of the specific airplane, never a generic one, and never another type's.
Our students split about evenly across the three trainers, and the preflight habit transfers whichever one you start in. The fleet pages explain each POH section by section: the Piper Warrior PA-28-161, the Cessna 162 Skycatcher and the Diamond DA20-C1.
Preflight On The Van Nuys Ramp
Our 20 airplanes are all owned by us and maintained in our own shop, which matters during a preflight for one reason. Anything you find goes on a squawk, a grounding item grounds the airplane, and nobody is discouraged from writing things up. Our page on flight school safety explains how inspections and squawks work.
The ramp adds its own habits. Summer afternoons are hot, so look again for fuel stains before you climb in. June mornings can be grey and damp under the marine layer, a good day to sump carefully. And Van Nuys is busy, with jets, helicopters and several flight schools sharing the field, so look all the way around before you call "clear prop" and again before you taxi.
The equipment that must be working for a legal flight is a separate list from the walk-around, covered on our page about required equipment and documents. A first lesson starts with this walk-around, checklist in your hand, and our page on what happens on a beginner flying lesson describes the rest of the day.
Related Reading
- Required equipment and documents — what must work and what must be aboard.
- Piper Warrior PA-28-161 — specifications and the POH, section by section.
- Cessna 162 Skycatcher — the high-wing light sport trainer.
- Diamond DA20-C1 — the composite two-seater with the castering nosewheel.
- Safety at You Fly LA — maintenance, inspections and the squawk system.
- What happens on a beginner flying lesson — from the ramp to the run-up on day one.
Preflight Inspection FAQ
What Does ARROW Stand For?
Airworthiness certificate, registration certificate, radio station license, operating limitations and weight and balance data. The radio station license is needed only for international flights, because aircraft flying domestically are licensed by rule under 47 CFR 87.18(b).
How Long Does A Preflight Inspection Take?
In our trainers a careful preflight takes about 15 to 20 minutes, longer on your first few, and the run-up adds a few more. The Airplane Flying Handbook's warning is that hasty ground operations diminish the margin of safety.
How Often Should You Sump The Fuel?
Before every flight, from every drain the POH lists. The Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge says to drain the fuel strainer before each flight and to keep draining until there is no sign of water.
What Color Is 100LL Avgas?
Blue. The Airplane Flying Handbook lists 100LL as dyed blue, 80/87 as red and 100/130 as green. Jet fuel is colorless or straw-colored and must never go into a piston trainer like ours.
What Should The Mag Check Show?
A small rpm drop on each magneto, within the limit in the POH. No drop at all is not normal, and neither is a drop beyond the limit or an engine that quits on one magneto. In any of those cases the airplane stays on the ground.
Can I Use A Cessna 172 Checklist In A Piper Warrior?
No. The checklist comes from the POH for that airplane, and types differ in fuel systems, flaps, steering and engines. Even two airplanes of the same type can carry different equipment and supplements.
Who Is Responsible For The Preflight?
The pilot in command. 14 CFR 91.7(b) makes the pilot in command responsible for determining whether the aircraft is in condition for safe flight, and requires the flight to be discontinued if an unairworthy condition occurs.
Do Your First Walk-Around With Us
Every discovery flight from Van Nuys starts with a walk-around you do yourself, with an instructor beside you. It is $229 for 60 minutes, you fly from the left seat, and it is credited in full toward training if you enroll within 24 hours. Our private pilot course starts at $10,400, with a payment plan from $2,500 down. To plan it first, book a free consultation or call (818) 330-1318, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal Unit 108, Van Nuys, CA 91406.
Book A Discovery Flight — $229 Book A Free Consultation Call (818) 330-1318
