Spring is here, the hangar door is open, and your annual inspection is on the calendar. Before you taxi over to the shop and hand the keys to your IA, there's a surprising amount of legal, owner-side prep work you can knock out — work that saves shop hours, lowers your bill, and earns you a little goodwill with the person about to spend a week inside your airplane.
Here's the casual checklist I run through every spring on my own bird, and what I tell hangar neighbors flying SR22s, 182s, and A36s.
1. Compile Your Squawk List (Two Columns)
Start a running list weeks before drop-off. Split it into two columns:
- Nits — landing light flickers on rough taxi, cabin air vent stiff, paint chip on the cowl screw, intermittent radio scratch on COM2.
- Serious items — anything you suspect could be airworthiness-related: oil consumption trending up, mag drop creeping, brake pedal feels soft, prop ding you've been watching.
Print both columns. Hand the IA the squawk list at drop-off. They'll thank you — guessing what bothers the owner is the slowest part of any annual.
2. Tab Out the Logbooks
Pull your airframe, engine, and prop logbooks. Stick a Post-it tab on every entry the IA will need to find fast:
- AD compliance entries — every recurring AD's last sign-off
- Weight and balance — current W&B + equipment list
- Transponder check (FAR 91.413) — last 24 calendar months
- Altimeter/static system check (FAR 91.411) — last 24 calendar months
- ELT battery and inspection (FAR 91.207)
- Last annual sign-off — and any 100-hour entries since
- Major repairs/alterations — every 337 form
A tabbed logbook is the single biggest hour-saver an owner can hand an IA.
3. Know Your Owner-Produced Parts Lane (AC 43-18)
FAA Advisory Circular 43-18 is the rulebook for owner-produced parts. The short version: as the owner, you may produce certain parts for your own aircraft, provided you participate meaningfully in the production — design, manufacture, assembly, supervision, inspection, or quality control.
This is not a license to fabricate a turbine blade in your garage. It's permission to, say, fabricate a simple bracket or gasket under your A&P/IA's direct supervision and have it installed legally. If you've been eyeing a small fix that's hard to source, ask your IA before annual whether it's a candidate.
4. Knock Out Preventive Maintenance (FAR Part 43 Appendix A(c))
A private pilot who owns the airplane may legally perform 31 specific preventive maintenance items listed in FAR Part 43 Appendix A, paragraph (c). A few that pay off before annual:
- Replenish hydraulic fluid in the brake reservoir
- Replace and service landing gear wheel bearings (clean, repack)
- Replace defective safety wiring or cotter keys
- Lubricate items not requiring disassembly other than removal of nonstructural items
- Replace bulbs, reflectors, and lenses of position and landing lights
- Replace any cowling not requiring removal of the propeller or disconnection of flight controls
- Replace or clean spark plugs and set spark plug gap clearance
- Replace batteries and check fluid level and specific gravity
You must log it: date, work performed, hours, your signature, certificate number, and rating. No log entry, no legal work.
5. Clean the Airplane (Yes, Really)
Pull the cowl. Wipe the engine down. Vacuum the cabin. Clean the belly. The IA bills time inspecting — every minute they spend wiping grime off a cylinder to read a part number is your money. A clean airframe also lets surface cracks, oil leaks, and chafing show themselves immediately.
Pop inspection panels you have access to per the maintenance manual, and leave them open and labeled. (Confirm with your IA which ones they want pre-opened.)
6. Pre-Stage AD Compliance Evidence
Recurring ADs are where annuals get expensive — not because the work is hard, but because tracking it down eats hours. Before drop-off:
- Print the current AD list for your airframe, engine, and prop
- Match each recurring AD to its last compliance entry in the logs
- Flag any that come due during this annual cycle
- Pull associated Service Bulletins your IA may want to address concurrently
Hand this packet to the IA with the squawk list. Watch their shoulders drop.
7. Day-Of: Show Up Right
Arrive with the airplane, full logbooks, your squawk list, your AD packet, the keys, and good coffee. Stay for fifteen minutes. Walk the airplane with the IA. Answer questions about how it's been flying. Then get out of the way.
Plan to swing by mid-week to look at anything they've found. Bring more coffee.
What NOT to Touch
Stay out of anything that requires a sign-off you can't legally provide:
- Oil filter cut and inspection — the inspection itself is the IA's call
- Control surface rigging — leave it alone
- Anything already written up as a discrepancy — once it's on the squawk list, it's the shop's job to clear it
- Anything outside Part 43 Appendix A(c) — when in doubt, don't
If you're not sure whether a task falls inside your owner-pilot lane, the answer is to ask your IA first. They'd rather answer a phone call than re-do work.
AeroCopilot tracks annual inspection due dates, AD compliance windows, and transponder/altimeter check intervals automatically — so the spring scramble becomes a calendar reminder instead of a logbook hunt.
Information current as of publish date; consult your IA before performing any maintenance task.
— AeroCopilot Editorial Team
Sources
- FAA AC 43.13-1B — Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices: Aircraft Inspection and Repair
- FAA AC 43-18 — Fabrication of Aircraft Parts by Maintenance Personnel (Owner-Produced Parts)
- FAR Part 43 Appendix A — Major Alterations, Major Repairs, and Preventive Maintenance
- FAR Part 43 Appendix D — Scope and Detail of Items to Be Included in Annual and 100-Hour Inspections