Mixture - Mags - Master!
by Bill Komanetsky

We all have our checklists which we all love and use religiously, right?

Well, another one, but one that can really save the airplane owner, fuel-truck driver, customer, student and flight instructor a lot of embarrassment, money and even injury is the easiest of them all.

When stepping out of your airplane and getting ready to close and lock it up, a simple check of the following items can assure a well secured cockpit:

• Mixture:  Verify the mixture is set to full-lean.  This will assure that no more fuel is entering the engine and will help the engine to not start at an inopportune time.

• Mags:  Make sure your magnetos are off.  This is invaluable in assuring that the fuel management people at Livermore do not get injured when refueling aircraft.

• Master:  Turning off the master is only common sense, right?

Over the past few weeks, we have seen three (3) situations where the Master switch has been left on over night in an aircraft resulting in a completely useless battery the next day.  All three times a new battery along with the conditioning of the battery (required before a new battery is installed in an airplane) was required costing upwards of $500.00 per incident.

Yea, No Kidding!

The environment can also be affected by this type of mistake.  We already participate in a 'not-so-green' hobby and business, but to add to this, the weight of more batteries being processed and portions of which dumped into land fills can and should be ridden with guilt.

So, follow this simple checklist and you will be avoiding the cost, embarrassment and inconvenience of a dead battery, flooded engine and the possible injury of those we rely on here at Livermore Airport.

Bill Komanetsky
Owner/Operator
Ahart Aviation Services