I would respectfully differ with those who state you merely need to pull the stick up to the top of the neck of the oil tube.
My suggestion is to pull it completely out. You want to look at the oil and its level in good light. By partially pulling the stick you can leave it in the shadows of exhaust stacks, baffles, etc. and miss information. When opening the cowl, you have a great deal going on and you should be truly inspecting things, to the point made by Ed and Eliacim. I have watched as people balance the cowl flap on their heads and do this part of the pre-flight inspection in near darkness. In addition, how many hold their sumped fuel up against a blue sky to look at it? Another bad idea from my perspective. Also, a good look at the fuel for not only water but debris and particulates is a good idea. Anyway, my strong opinion is that thorough is always better and during a preflight it only takes a few minutes longer. Best, John On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 1:04 PM, Roy D Stubbs II <[email protected]>wrote: > > > I don’t think you can ever be too thorough with a pre-flight. > > > > Roy > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > *On Behalf Of *[email protected] > *Sent:* Wednesday, May 19, 2010 12:52 PM > > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* RE: [ercoupe-tech] Messy oil check > > > > > > > I always open the side of the cowl. > > How else would I drain the gascolator and sample what's in it? > > How else would I look at my throttle link and verify it's secure? > > How else would I take a general look for anything that may not be right? > > > > Am I being too thorough on my preflight??? > > > > Eliacim > > > > > --- [email protected] wrote: > > From: "Ed Burkhead" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Messy oil check > Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 10:38:36 -0500 > > > > > > Besides the good advice of the others, I’d add that I stopped using the > small oil-check door. My messes disappeared and my pre-flight inspection > was much more thorough when I skipped the oil-check door and opened the > whole side cowl. > > > > I know that you, like most, have already been opening the side cowl but I > wanted to mention it in case others, like me, haven’t picked up on this > quickly. > > Ed > > >
