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Preserving the Equipment
Ben Keirn, Contributing Editor & Photographer

The past few weeks have left us all in a bit of a lurch, with the status quo being chucked out the window. For pilots and aircraft owners, this has meant noticeably fewer distractions from the daily chores. Most of my life when I've been working in the yard, prepping the garden for the year's planting, or even, in normal times, walking between buildings at my place of employment, I have to take a minute to look skyward when I hear the buzzing of a prop, the rumble of a rotary, or the whine of a turbine. With the recent stay at home orders and essential travel limitations, however, those distractions have all but ceased. Rightly so, in many cases, but for those who own aircraft, there are some important considerations that can keep you flying.

First of all, and most importantly, follow the letter of the law in your home state. I have no desire to entice people to break the law. I do, however, have every intention of helping people maintain their aircraft, maintain their currency, and preserve their investment. Recently I took on my first job in aircraft management. The pay is good, the time at the airport is cathartic, and the challenges are big. The owner of the aircraft recently wanted to return to his home using his aircraft... after the restrictions had set in for the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was a flurry of emails and phone calls to determine if the airplane could fly, if the owner could relocate, and if we could find pilots willing to fly, knowing that they could at any time find themselves stranded far from home.

Kick the tires! Or at least check the pressures.
As Arlo Guthrie once sang, I was "leavin' no part untouched" when inspecting the aircraft for the flight... even the parts most wouldn't want to touch.
Gone are the days of full service at the gas station, but at the airport we'll still check your fluids.

Praise the Lord, that flight all came together and I was able to spend some much needed time at the airport, since my voyage was deemed Permitted Travel. At the heart of this is the willingness to not only live within the law, but to research and understand the law as it relates to our activities. The first important item was that, due to the executive orders from our state Governors, the owner could "return to a place of residence." Based on the phraseology in the executive orders allowing operation of "other private, public, and commercial transportation and logistics providers necessary for the Essential Activities and other purposes expressly authorized in this Executive Order," our aircraft could fly in order to bring the owner to his home. As for the pilots, we were helped by some friends at a local charter service to get the qualified pilots in time.

A Cherokee 140 departs to exercise the engine and keep the airplane in tip top condition.

How does this all relate to you as an aircraft owner or club member? The law in your state might allow you to fly even under the stay at home orders. My state has a few clauses in their executive order that allow for outdoor activities such as walking, cycling, and the like. That alone could allow you to fly, if you wanted to stress that flying is an outdoor activity that involves equipment, akin to bicycling. There might be some explaining, though, if you don't live at an airport with your airplane. And unless you're flying with the people from your own household, you'd better be flying solo. Such was the case for several of the folks the day I went out to prepare the jet to pick up its owner. A few souls were out visiting clouds and encouraging friends with flyovers.

A Citabria departing.
This Citabria went for a strikingly non-aerobatic flight, ensuring the engine and the pilot neither one get rusty.

But it's not just a joy ride to fly your plane in this time of shut down and shut in. Most people nowadays do not own their airplane outright. Typically, folks start a corporation, LLC, a club, or some combination of these, which owns the plane. That is a business. The airplane, then, is business equipment and the hangar its physical plant. Sounds kind of like you could do "The minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of the business's inventory, preserve the condition of its physical plant and equipment, etc." under our state's executive order.

A Grumman Cheetah out stretching its legs. They simply must keep this one limber, there's nothing worse than a Cheetah that can't run.

Alright, by now you're probably thinking I'm just fishing for loopholes in the fine print. Actually, in part that is the case. But I'm not searching for excuses to get away with flying. If I were, I'd have been airborne a dozen times in the past few weeks. I've been at the airport for essential business purposes, I've been where people are flying, and I've had access to aircraft I'm rated to fly. But I'm not an aircraft owner or club member. As a renter, I have no real stake in the aircraft, so none of these rules apply to me. None of these loopholes, if you please, mean a thing to my situation. But they mean everything to someone whose airplane is sitting in a hangar literally rotting from the inside. Okay, not literally rotting, but corroding, definitely corroding.

A Piper Cub Super Cruiser joined the flock taking to the air that day, ensuring that this well preserved bird continues to fly.

See those happy airplanes flying in the photos? They are happy because their heart is healthy. Aviationpros.com had an article published a while back on corrosion in your engine. If you own an airplane that gets itself off the ground, i.e. not a glider, you owe it to yourself to give the article a read. If you're like me, you'd be surprised to learn that, according to the Aviation Pros article, the good folks at Continental define an airplane as being in temporary storage if it flies less than once a month. Consider how long this Corona Virus event has gone on and you'll see that your airplane needs to fly. The gist of the article is that corrosion sets in, with an internal combustion engine, if an airplane hasn't been flown more than one hour a week. And Continental goes farther saying the airplane's engine is at risk if it isn't flown for 20 hours per month. So, get flying and get that moisture out of your oil! The Governor of Indiana has allowed enough leeway in the executive order that airplanes can be flown by their owners or a designated club member. Does your club have four planes? Designate a CFI to fly each plane and be current and ready to knock the rust off when the rest of the gang can go flying.

A transient V-Tail Bonanza came in for a landing before going West, though not in the ultimate sense of the phrase.

Of course, if you're flying to preserve the equipment, health concerns are just as vital to maintaining the value of the company or club that owns your airplane. What would be worse than to maintain the value of your aircraft and then accidentally transmit the disease to someone via that aircraft? Thankfully, there are some helpful guidelines available to the general public through the National Business Aviation Association. The NBAA's Aircraft Disinfection and Cleaning Procedures guide is available to non-members and members alike. Just follow the link below to a quick write up and several helpful links. The procedures even list different care methods for the various materials and surfaces found in aircraft.

One final shot of the Super Cruiser on short final to the sod strip. Nothing combines quite so well as a taildragger and a grass runway.

Here in Indiana we are due to be out from under our executive order on April 21st, so the virus concerns might be a moot point by the time of publishing. But if the executive order gets extended, this is an important lesson in reading and understanding your state's laws. Of course, this might also be a wake up call for you on exactly what damage is caused when your aircraft isn't flying. And regardless of what illness is in the headlines, it can only be a benefit to the other members of your club or passengers in your plane if you glean a few cleaning and disinfection tips from the business aviation world. Either way, flying your aircraft is important to you, to the future of aviation, and to the "preservation of your equipment." So go flying if you can find a legal reason to do so, keep aviation at the forefront of our thoughts, and encourage others to be a part of an industry that is ready for the next generation of enthusiastic pilots. And if you want to make sure you can fly even under an executive stay at home order, perhaps it's time to visit the ads on Barnstormers.com and shop for your own "business equipment."

Aviation Pros article Corrosion: How does it affect the internal engine?

NBAA Coronavirus Aircraft Disinfection Resources

By Ben Keirn, Contributing Editor & Photographer
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