Providing for Excellent Maintenance is Part of Kootenai Aviations, Inc., Culture
- Northern Air, of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, provides the majority of our maintenance.
- Northern Air provides a clean, spacious, heated, well-equipped and well-lit hangar for maintenance.
- Dave Parker, of Northern Air, is an FAA-certified Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic as well as an Authorized
Inspector for aviation maintenance.
- Northern Air only uses quality parts that are properly documented.
KAI’s aircraft are inspected frequently! – A preflight mechanical
inspection is conducted prior to flight.
Preflight inspections include:
- Airframe, propeller & engine.
- Control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, elevators & rudder)
- Tires, brakes, hydraulic lines etc.
- Fuel quantity, type, and quality.
- Aircraft legal documents.
- A check is also performed prior to takeoff which confirms correct operation of the vacuum system, electrical system, magnetos,
sparkplugs, carburetor heat control, gyroscopic instruments, and to insure control surfaces are moving freely and correctly.
Regulations require major inspections of commercial aircraft at 100 hr.
intervals.
- Seats, carpets, interior trim, exterior cover plates and more are all removed to provide access to all the control cables,
pulleys, etc., for inspection and servicing.
- Rudder pedals & brake reservoirs are inspected/serviced.
- The entire airframe is inspected for cracks, wrinkles, loose rivets, etc.
- Control surfaces (elevators, ailerons, flaps & rudder) are inspected for alignment and structural soundness.
- The engine and engine compartment are thoroughly cleaned for inspection.
- Battery, cables, and wiring are serviced and inspected.
- Engine is compression tested.
- Spark plugs are serviced & tested.
- Exhaust system is inspected.
- All engine control cables are inspected & serviced.
- Engine brackets, engine mounts, and cowl mounts are inspected.
- This is just a sampling of the inspections made; repairs are made as needed.
All of this is in addition to
routine maintenance of various filters, etc. In other words, the plane is inspected in detail from spinner to
tail! This process takes a minimum of 15 to 20 hours, assuming no significant repairs are needed. Now, just to put this in perspective for you, most modern cars specify an oil change interval of 5000 miles or more, and,assuming an average of 50 miles per hour for all city and highway driving combined, then you would end up changing oil every 100 hours of operation. How much more confidence would you have in the mechanical condition of your car if you inspected it to the depth and
detail described above EVERY TIME YOU CHANGED YOUR OIL?
Every Pilot’s Dream – Blue Sky and a Good Plane!
Call 406-293-9320 for more information.
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