Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share How to Keep a Post-Flight Discrepancy Log
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
How to Keep a Post-Flight Discrepancy Log
Send us questions by commenting below or emailing John & Jeff at: [email protected]
How to Keep a Post-Flight Discrepancy Log
Most engine problems don't show up overnight — they trend. Keeping a simple post-flight discrepancy log is how you catch them before they ground you, or worse.
John and Jeff walk through the habit they wish every owner and pilot would adopt: at the end of every flight, write down what you noticed. A new noise, a vibration, a temperature that ran a little higher than normal — or nothing at all. Even "none noted" with the date and your initials is worth writing, because it gives the next pilot and your mechanic a baseline to compare against. The guys explain why this matters most on aircraft with multiple pilots, where nobody wants to be the one to "make it a thing," and how that silence lets small issues turn into expensive ones. Jeff shares a real example: a young pilot who heard a popping sound out of the left engine for about two months and brushed it off — until they pulled the cowling and found an exhaust stack hanging an inch and a half loose. Hot exhaust gases that close to a wiring harness can melt insulation and kill power to the engine, and a stack that fully breaks loose becomes a hazard on the ground. The fix, caught early, would have taken minutes. By the time it was found, it was a near miss. The episode is about building the awareness and the paper trail that catches problems while they're still cheap.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why a written post-flight squawk log beats relying on memory
- What to write when nothing went wrong (and why "none noted" matters)
- How trending small symptoms reveals real engine problems
- The communication gap on multi-pilot aircraft, and how to close it
- A real-world case: a popping sound that was a hanging exhaust stack
- What can go wrong when an exhaust stack hangs near a wiring harness
- Why looping in your mechanic — or another mechanic — pays off
- How to give your A&P the history they need to actually diagnose an issue
If you fly behind a piston engine, this is one of the cheapest habits you can build to keep your airplane airworthy and yourself safe.
TIMECODES
00:00 The post-flight habit nobody wants to do
00:27 Why "I think I felt this 3 months ago" is too late
01:18 What to write down — even when nothing happened
02:08 The multi-pilot communication problem
03:23 The popping sound that was a hanging exhaust stack
05:16 What a loose exhaust stack can actually do to your engine
06:00 Call your mechanic — or another mechanic
Get in touch!
Web - SignatureEngines.com
Email - [email protected]
YouTube - youtube.com/@SignatureEnginesInc
View all episodes
By John Buckles and Jeff SchnabelSend us questions by commenting below or emailing John & Jeff at: [email protected]
How to Keep a Post-Flight Discrepancy Log
Most engine problems don't show up overnight — they trend. Keeping a simple post-flight discrepancy log is how you catch them before they ground you, or worse.
John and Jeff walk through the habit they wish every owner and pilot would adopt: at the end of every flight, write down what you noticed. A new noise, a vibration, a temperature that ran a little higher than normal — or nothing at all. Even "none noted" with the date and your initials is worth writing, because it gives the next pilot and your mechanic a baseline to compare against. The guys explain why this matters most on aircraft with multiple pilots, where nobody wants to be the one to "make it a thing," and how that silence lets small issues turn into expensive ones. Jeff shares a real example: a young pilot who heard a popping sound out of the left engine for about two months and brushed it off — until they pulled the cowling and found an exhaust stack hanging an inch and a half loose. Hot exhaust gases that close to a wiring harness can melt insulation and kill power to the engine, and a stack that fully breaks loose becomes a hazard on the ground. The fix, caught early, would have taken minutes. By the time it was found, it was a near miss. The episode is about building the awareness and the paper trail that catches problems while they're still cheap.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why a written post-flight squawk log beats relying on memory
- What to write when nothing went wrong (and why "none noted" matters)
- How trending small symptoms reveals real engine problems
- The communication gap on multi-pilot aircraft, and how to close it
- A real-world case: a popping sound that was a hanging exhaust stack
- What can go wrong when an exhaust stack hangs near a wiring harness
- Why looping in your mechanic — or another mechanic — pays off
- How to give your A&P the history they need to actually diagnose an issue
If you fly behind a piston engine, this is one of the cheapest habits you can build to keep your airplane airworthy and yourself safe.
TIMECODES
00:00 The post-flight habit nobody wants to do
00:27 Why "I think I felt this 3 months ago" is too late
01:18 What to write down — even when nothing happened
02:08 The multi-pilot communication problem
03:23 The popping sound that was a hanging exhaust stack
05:16 What a loose exhaust stack can actually do to your engine
06:00 Call your mechanic — or another mechanic
Get in touch!
Web - SignatureEngines.com
Email - [email protected]
YouTube - youtube.com/@SignatureEnginesInc