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Pilot Safety Check

Eight mnemonics in the order you actually fly them — fitness, risk, paperwork, airworthiness, preflight action, day equipment, night equipment, passengers. Every block carries the rule it comes from, so you can check the claim rather than trust the acronym. Speeds and aircraft specifics always come from your POH/AFM.

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Two reference lines per block. FAR is the regulation — 14 CFR, and it binds. AIM is the Aeronautical Information Manual: explanatory guidance, much of it worded as a recommendation, and not regulatory. Where a block has no AIM line, the AIM does not cover it — that gap is real and is left visible on purpose.

1 · IM SAFE

am I fit to fly? — before anything else

TECHNIQUE

  • Illness — sick = no-go

  • Medication — impairing or masking?

  • Stress — life load counts

  • Alcohol — 8 hours minimum, under 0.04, never impaired

  • Fatigue — the one pilots lie about

  • Emotions / Eating — upset or empty

Run it when you wake up. Any hit = don’t fly — with a known disqualifying condition or medication, staying down is a rule, not a preference.

FAR self-grounding is regulatory: 14 CFR 61.53; 91.17 alcohol · PHAK Ch 2

AIM 8-1-1 Fitness For Flight — the AIM prints this checklist itself, at 8-1-1h (guidance, not regulation)

2 · PAVE

frame every flight’s risk

TECHNIQUE

  • Pilot — IM SAFE, currency, proficiency

  • Aircraft — ARROW, AV1ATES, equipment, performance

  • EnVironment — weather, wind, runway, terrain, day/night

  • External pressures — the schedule, the passengers, the ego

MEMORYTECHNIQUECheck each letter against written personal minimums — set on the ground, not negotiated in the runup area.
Run a go / no-go check

FAR PHAK Ch 2 · personal minimums

AIM — no paragraph on point; this block is regulation only.

3 · Your pockets + ARROW

required documents — pilot, then aircraft

TECHNIQUE

  • Airworthiness certificate — displayed at the cabin/cockpit entrance, legible

  • Radio station license — FCC, international operations only

  • Registration — effective; expires 7 years after issue month

  • Operating limitations — current AFM/POH, markings, placards

  • Weight & balance — current data for this airplane

On you: pilot certificate · photo ID · medical (or BasicMed documents). The rest live on board.

FAR pilot: 14 CFR 61.3(a), (c) · aircraft: 91.203(a)-(b); 91.9; 47 CFR (FCC)

AIM — no paragraph on point; this block is regulation only.

4 · AV1ATES

is the airplane legally airworthy today?

TECHNIQUE

  • Annual inspection

    12 calendar months

  • VOR check — only for IFR using VOR

    30 days

  • 100-hour — when operated for hire

    100 hrs time in service

  • ADs — complied with, recurring ones tracked

    as each AD requires

  • Transponder test

    24 calendar months

  • ELT — battery after 1 cumulative hour of use or 50% of useful life

    12 calendar months

  • Static system & altimeter — required for IFR in controlled airspace

    24 calendar months

An annual can substitute for a 100-hour — never the reverse; the 10-hour overrun exists only to reach the inspection and counts against the next 100.

FAR 14 CFR 91.409(a)-(b); 91.171; 39.7; 91.413; 91.207(c)-(d); 91.411

AIM 6-2-4 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) · 1-1-4 VOR Receiver Check (guidance, not regulation)

CHECKRIDE TRAPTECHNIQUEsubject only; every interval above is 14 CFR

5 · NWKRAFT

preflight action the reg actually requires

TECHNIQUE

  • NOTAMs — including TFRs, same-day

  • Weather — reports and forecasts

  • Known ATC delays

  • Runway lengths — at airports of intended use

  • Alternatives — available if the flight can’t be completed

  • Fuel (VFR) — first point of intended landing at normal cruise + 30 min day / 45 min night — no alternate required (that’s IFR)

  • Takeoff & landing distances — from your POH charts, every flight

FAR 14 CFR 91.103 · fuel: 91.151(a) · AC 91-92 briefing

AIM 5-1-1 Preflight Preparation · 5-1-3 Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) System · 7-1-5 Preflight Briefing · 3-5-3 Temporary Flight Restrictions (guidance, not regulation)

6 · A TOMATO FLAMES

day-VFR required equipment — § 91.205(b)

TECHNIQUE

  • Altimeter

  • Tachometer — per engine

  • Oil pressure gauge — each engine using a pressure system

  • Manifold pressure gauge — per altitude engine

  • Airspeed indicator

  • Temperature gauge — liquid-cooled engine

  • Oil temperature gauge — air-cooled engine

  • Fuel quantity gauge — each tank

  • Landing-gear position indicator — if retractable

  • Anti-collision lights — small airplanes certificated after 3/11/96

  • Magnetic direction indicator

  • ELT — per § 91.207 — not itself in § 91.205(b)

  • Seat belts — and shoulder harnesses per manufacture date

CHECKRIDE TRAPTECHNIQUEThis is § 91.205(b) as far as the mnemonic reaches — it has no letter for § 91.205(b)(12), the flotation gear and pyrotechnic signalling device required when operated for hire over water beyond power-off gliding distance from shore. And it is not an MEL (that’s a separate FAA-approved document most trainers don’t have). Inop items instead go through the § 91.213(d) flow, then get removed or deactivated and placarded.
Walk the § 91.213(d) flow

FAR 14 CFR 91.205(b); ELT from 91.207 · inop items: the 91.213(d) flow

AIM — no paragraph on point; this block is regulation only.

7 · FLAPS

night VFR adds — § 91.205(c)

TECHNIQUE

  • Fuses — spare set or 3 of each kind (if the airplane uses fuses)

  • Landing light — if operated for hire

  • Anti-collision light system

  • Position lights — on sunset to sunrise

  • Source of electrical energy — adequate for installed equipment

FAR 14 CFR 91.205(c) · lights on sunset–sunrise: 91.209(a)

AIM 4-3-24 Use of Aircraft Lights · 8-1-6 Vision in Flight · 8-1-8 Judgment Aspects of Collision Avoidance (guidance, not regulation)

CHECKRIDE TRAPTECHNIQUE4-3-24c is a voluntary program, not a rule

8 · SAFETY

passenger briefing — belts are the legal part

TECHNIQUE

  • Seat belts — fasten/release (required brief); on for taxi, takeoff, landing

  • Air vents — heat, sick sacks

  • Fire extinguisher — location, use

  • Emergency — exits, door, “follow my commands”

  • Traffic & talking — help me look; sterile on my call

  • Your questions — before engine start

FAR belts brief + notify: 14 CFR 91.107(a) · rest: technique

AIM — no paragraph on point; this block is regulation only.

Badges.REGULATION quoted from 14 or 49 CFR.FAA GUIDANCE quoted from the AIM, an AC, or an FAA handbook — advice, not law.POH/AFM your aircraft’s own records govern.TECHNIQUE our voice — how to think about it.Text outside quotation marks is ours, whatever badge sits nearby.

Sources. Regulatory citations verified against the electronic Code of Federal Regulations, title 14, issue date 2026-08-24 (up to date as of 2026-08-27), retrieved 2026-08-30. AIM paragraph numbers and titles verified against the AIM HTML edition, Basic dated February 20, 2025, in Change 3, effective 2026-07-09, retrieved 2026-08-30. Paragraph numbers move between editions — check the current AIM before relying on one.

This is a study aid, not a checklist. It does not replace your POH/AFM, your CFI, or the regulations themselves, and it is not for navigation or dispatch. Verify anything here against the primary source before you act on it.

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