Documents, Inspections and Airworthiness

The documents that must be aboard are remembered as ARROW: Airworthiness certificate, Registration certificate, Radio station license (for international flights), Operating limitations (the flight manual, placards, and markings), and Weight and balance data. Airworthiness also depends on current inspections. Every aircraft needs an annual inspection within the preceding 12 calendar months; an aircraft flown for hire or used for flight instruction for hire also needs a 100-hour inspection. The PIC is ultimately responsible for deciding the aircraft is in condition for safe flight. When something is inoperative and no minimum equipment list applies, 91.213 requires you to confirm the item is not required by the equipment list, the VFR-day rule, an airworthiness directive, or the operation; then deactivate or remove it, placard it "inoperative," and judge that the aircraft is still safe. The maintenance details are heavily tested, so keep the intervals exact: the annual is 12 CALENDAR months (the 100-hour limit may be exceeded by no more than 10 hours, and only while en route to reach a place where the inspection can be done, with the overrun deducted from the next 100 hours in service); the transponder must be tested and inspected within the preceding 24 calendar months; the ELT gets inspected within 12 calendar months, and its battery is replaced or recharged after 1 cumulative hour of use or when 50 percent of its useful life has expired — test it only in the first five minutes after the hour, and monitor 121.5 before shutdown to confirm it is not transmitting. Airworthiness Directives are mandatory: the OWNER or OPERATOR is responsible for AD compliance and for maintaining the aircraft in an airworthy condition, and a pilot may perform only the preventive maintenance listed in Part 43 Appendix A — with every task entered in the maintenance records.