Electricity and Electronics
Not publishedof exam
Aircraft Drawings
Not publishedof exam
Weight and Balance
Not publishedof exam
Fluid Lines and Fittings
Not publishedof exam
Materials, Hardware, Processes
Not publishedof exam
Ground Operations and Servicing
Not publishedof exam
Cleaning and Corrosion Control
Not publishedof exam
Mathematics
Not publishedof exam
Regulations, Forms, Records
Not publishedof exam
Physics for Aviation
Not publishedof exam
Inspection Concepts and Techniques
Not publishedof exam
Human Factors
Not publishedof exam
Quick Facts
- Test code
- AMG
- Questions
- 60 multiple-choice
- Time
- 2 hours
- Pass
- 70 percent
- Delivery
- PSI computer-based
- Fee
- About $175, center varies
- Subjects
- 12 ACS subjects, weights unpublished
- Report valid
- 24 calendar months
- Retest
- 30 days, or with instruction
- Certificate age
- 18 years, 14 CFR 65.71
- Blueprint
- ACS November 1, 2021
Ohm and Watt Wheel
E = I x R and P = I x E
Series vs Parallel
Series
- One current path
- Current same everywhere
- Resistances add up
Parallel
- Several current paths
- Voltage same everywhere
- Total below smallest branch
Current same versus voltage same
Ohm and Watt Formulas
- E = I x R
- Volts from amps, ohms
- I = E / R
- Amps from volts, ohms
- R = E / I
- Ohms from volts, amps
- P = I x E
- Watts from amps, volts
- P = I^2 x R
- Watts from current squared
- P = E^2 / R
- Watts from volts squared
- Kirchhoff current law
- Current in equals out
- Kirchhoff voltage law
- Drops equal applied voltage
- Watt's law
- Power links volts, ampsP = I x E
Lead-Acid vs Ni-Cad
Lead-acid
- Sulfuric acid electrolyte
- Gravity shows state of charge
- About 2 volts per cell
Ni-Cad
- Potassium hydroxide electrolyte
- Gravity does not show charge
- About 1.25 volts per cell
Hydrometer works only lead-acid
Series and Parallel Rules
- Series total resistance
- Add every resistance
- Series current
- Same at every point
- Series voltage
- Drops add to source
- Parallel total resistance
- Less than smallest branch
- Two parallel resistors
- Product over sum
- Equal parallel resistors
- One value over count
- Parallel voltage
- Same across each branch
- Parallel current
- Branch currents add up
- Open in series
- Whole circuit stops
- Open in parallel
- Other branches keep working
Resistor Color Code
- Black
- Digit 0
- Brown
- Digit 1
- Red
- Digit 2
- Orange
- Digit 3
- Yellow
- Digit 4
- Green
- Digit 5
- Blue
- Digit 6
- Violet
- Digit 7
- Gray
- Digit 8
- White
- Digit 9
- Gold band
- Tolerance 5 percent
- Silver band
- Tolerance 10 percent
- No fourth band
- Tolerance 20 percent
- Third band
- Number of zeros added
Batteries and Meters
- Lead-acid electrolyte
- Sulfuric acid and water
- Charged lead-acid gravity
- 1.275 to 1.300
- Discharged lead-acid gravity
- About 1.150
- Lead-acid cell
- About 2 volts
- Ni-Cad electrolyte
- Potassium hydroxide, KOH
- Ni-Cad cell
- About 1.25 volts
- Ammeter
- Connect in series
- Voltmeter
- Connect in parallel
- Ohmmeter
- Circuit power off first
- Hydrometer
- Reads electrolyte specific gravity
- Cells in series
- Voltage adds, capacity same
- Cells in parallel
- Capacity adds, voltage same
Drawing Line Conventions
- Visible line
- Solid, edges you see
- Hidden line
- Short dashes, unseen edges
- Center line
- Long and short dashes
- Dimension line
- Arrowheads carrying the size
- Extension line
- Projects the measured edge
- Leader line
- Arrow pointing to note
- Phantom line
- Alternate position or motion
- Cutting plane line
- Where the section cuts
- Section lines
- Hatching on cut material
- Break line
- Shortens a long part
Drawing Types and Blocks
- Detail drawing
- One part, fully dimensioned
- Assembly drawing
- Parts joined together
- Installation drawing
- Part located on aircraft
- Sectional view
- Interior after a cut
- Schematic
- Function, not actual location
- Block diagram
- System flow by blocks
- Orthographic projection
- Front, top, side views
- Title block
- Name, number, scale, date
- Zone numbers
- Locate detail on print
- Tolerance
- Allowable variation from dimension
- Bill of material
- Parts list for drawing
- Revision block
- Changes made to drawing
Weight Shift Proportion
Weight moved / total = CG change / distance
Tare vs Ballast
Tare
- Chocks and blocks weighed
- Subtract from scale reading
- Not part of aircraft
Ballast
- Weight added deliberately
- Moves CG into limits
- Recorded in the records
Subtract tare, add ballast
Which Formula to Use
- Need moment from weight→Weight times arm
- Need arm from moment→Moment divided by weight
- Need aircraft CG→Total moment over total weight
- Equipment added or removed→Adjust weight and moment(Recompute the CG)
- Moving an existing load→Weight shift proportion
- CG forward of limit→Add ballast aft(Solve required weight)
- Need power from work→Work divided by time
- Need current from volts→Volts divided by ohms
Weight and Balance Formulas
- Moment = weight x arm
- Turning effect about datum
- Arm = moment / weight
- Distance back from moment
- CG = total moment / total weight
- Balance point of aircraft
- Datum
- Reference for all arms
- Station
- Inches from the datum
- Positive arm
- Behind the datum
- Negative arm
- Ahead of the datum
- Useful load
- Max weight minus empty
- Empty weight CG
- Empty moment over empty weight
- Moment index
- Moment reduced by factor
- MAC
- Mean aerodynamic chord
Weighing and Loading Checks
- Empty weight includes
- Unusable fuel, full operating fluids
- Before weighing
- Level, clean, drain fuel
- Scales
- Check calibration first
- Tare
- Chocks and blocks, subtract
- Ballast
- Added weight correcting CG
- Forward adverse check
- Load only forward stations
- Aft adverse check
- Load only aft stations
- Avgas
- 6 lb per gallon
- Turbine fuel
- 6.7 lb per gallon
- Lubricating oil
- 7.5 lb per gallon
- Water
- 8.35 lb per gallon
- Standard person
- 170 lb each
AN vs MS Fittings
AN flared
- Cone on fitting end
- Tube must be flared
- Black steel, blue aluminum
MS flareless
- Straight fitting end
- Sleeve bites the tube
- Body, sleeve and nut
Cone versus straight end
Tubing and Hose Sizing
- Rigid tube size
- Outside diameter in sixteenths
- Wall thickness
- Printed in thousandths inch
- Tube inside diameter
- OD minus twice wall
- Hose dash number
- Matching tube size only
- AN fitting dash
- Tube OD in sixteenths
- Aircraft flare angle
- 35 to 37 degrees
- Automotive flare angle
- 45 degrees, never used
- AN steel fitting
- Colored black
- AN aluminum fitting
- Colored blue
- Aluminum bronze fitting
- Cadmium plated, natural color
- Aluminum tube marking
- Painted color code band
Hose and Fitting Rules
- Lay line
- Printed stripe showing twist
- Twisted hose
- Straighten before final torque
- MS flareless fitting
- Body, sleeve and nut
- Flareless use
- High pressure, 3,000 psi
- AN flared fitting
- Cone on fitting end
- MS flareless end
- Straight, no cone
- Buna-N hose
- Petroleum fuel and oil
- Butyl hose
- Phosphate ester Skydrol fluid
- Teflon hose
- Wide temperature, chemical resistant
- New hose test
- 1.5 times system pressure
- Torque seal
- Witness mark after torquing
- Titanium warning
- Never in oxygen systems
AN Bolt Decode
AN3DD5A: sixteenths, alloy, eighths, undrilled
AN Bolt Part Numbers
- AN prefix
- Air Force-Navy standard bolt
- First number
- Diameter in sixteenths inch
- DD code
- 2024 aluminum alloy
- C code
- Corrosion-resistant steel
- No letter code
- Cadmium-plated steel
- Second number
- Length in eighths inch
- A suffix
- Undrilled shank
- H before length
- Head drilled for safetying
- AN310
- Aircraft castle nut
- AN320
- Castellated shear nut
- AN315 and AN335
- Plain nuts
- AN350
- Wing nut
- AN960
- Plain washer
Torque and Safetying
- Inch-pounds to foot-pounds
- Divide by twelve
- Lubricating threads
- Only when manual says
- Turn the nut
- Preferred over the bolt
- Drive-end extension
- Recompute using the formula
- Torque wrench check
- Test at least monthly
- Cotter pin holes
- Never loosen to align
- Double twist wire
- Most common safetying method
- Single wire method
- Small closely spaced screws
- Widely spaced bolts
- Three maximum per series
- Closely spaced bolts
- 24-inch wire length limit
- Wire pull direction
- Toward tightening the fastener
- Fiber locknut limit
- Not above 250 F
Materials and Hardness Tests
- Alclad
- Pure aluminum over alloy
- Anodizing
- Electrolytic oxide film
- 1100 rivet
- As fabricated, low strength
- 2117 rivet
- Most used, drive anytime
- 2017 and 2024 rivets
- Icebox rivets, reheat-treat
- 5056 rivet
- For magnesium alloy sheet
- Brinell tester
- 10 millimeter hardened ball
- Brinell load
- 3,000 kg ferrous metals
- Rockwell C
- Diamond penetrator, 150 kilograms
- Rockwell B
- Ball penetrator, 100 kilograms
- Barcol tester
- Portable hardness tester
- Tension
- Pulls material apart
- Compression
- Squeezes material together
- Shear
- Slides layers sideways
- Torsion
- Twisting force
Avgas Color Codes
Red 80, green 100, blue 100LL
Ground Operations and Servicing
- Grade 80
- Colored red
- Grade 100
- Colored green
- Grade 100LL
- Colored blue
- Grade 115
- Colored purple
- Class A fire
- Wood, paper, cloth
- Class B fire
- Fuel, oil, solvents
- Class C fire
- Energized electrical equipment
- Class D fire
- Flammable metal, never water
- Bonding wire
- Truck to aircraft before fueling
- Nozzle bond
- Bond before opening tank
- Never ground to
- Exhaust stack or propeller
- Lightning limit
- None within five miles
- Ground radar limit
- None within 500 feet
- Water slugs
- Free water drained after fueling
- Entrained water
- Droplets making fuel cloudy
- Oxygen servicing
- No oil, grease, fuel
Corrosion Severity Ladder
Surface, pitting, intergranular, exfoliation
Galvanic vs Intergranular
Galvanic
- Two dissimilar metals touching
- Needs an electrolyte
- Worst right at joint
Intergranular
- Along the grain boundaries
- From improper heat treatment
- Often no surface evidence
Metals touching versus grain structure
Corrosion Treatment Picker
- Light corrosion on aluminum→Nonwoven pad, aluminum wool(Never steel wool)
- Corrosion on steel part→Steel wool or brush(Ferrous tools only)
- Superficial aluminum corrosion→Chromic acid inhibitor(Dwell five minutes)
- Bare aluminum after removal→Conversion coating, then primer(Refinish promptly)
- Filiform found under paint→Strip, treat, refinish(Store below 70 percent)
- Exfoliation on an extrusion→Ultrasonic or eddy current(Assess depth first)
- Dissimilar metal joint→Insulate with sealant, primer(Break the circuit)
- Pits in stressed area→Blend out completely(Prevent stress risers)
Corrosion Types
- Surface corrosion
- Uniform etch, powdery deposit
- Pitting
- Small deep holes
- Filiform
- Wormlike traces under paint
- Intergranular
- Attack along grain boundaries
- Exfoliation
- Lifted grains, advanced intergranular
- Galvanic
- Dissimilar metals plus electrolyte
- Concentration cell
- Crevice or faying surface
- Stress corrosion
- Stress plus corrosive environment
- Fretting
- Slight rubbing between parts
- Filiform humidity
- 78 to 90 percent
- Steel filiform traces
- Never cross each other
- Aluminum filiform traces
- Cross under one another
Corrosion Control Products
- Chemical conversion coating
- Alodine on bare aluminum
- Chromic acid
- Inhibitor for aluminum alloys
- Chromic acid dwell
- At least five minutes
- Anodized film
- Do not abrade it
- Alclad layer
- Sacrificial, avoid removing it
- Corrosion preventive compound
- Waxy sealant or thin film
- Never on aluminum
- Steel wool, steel brush
- Abrasive pad rule
- Never reuse across metals
- Caustic cleaners
- Attack aluminum, use neutral
- Filiform prevention
- Store below 70 percent
- Magnesium fire
- Water makes it worse
Maintenance Math
- Circle area
- Pi times radius squared
- Cylinder volume
- Base area times height
- Rectangle area
- Length times width
- Triangle area
- Half base times height
- Compression ratio
- Total volume over clearance volume
- Percent
- Part over whole, times 100
- Ratio
- Compares two like quantities
- 1 inch
- 25.4 millimeters
- 1 gallon
- 231 cubic inches
- 1 cubic foot
- 1,728 cubic inches
- Celsius to Fahrenheit
- Times 9/5, then add 32
- Fahrenheit to Celsius
- Minus 32, times 5/9
- Scientific notation
- Digits times power of ten
Major vs Minor Work
Major
- May appreciably affect airworthiness
- Not by elementary operations
- Form 337 required
Minor
- Anything not major
- Elementary operations, accepted practices
- Logbook entry only
Form 337 marks major
Who Approves Return to Service
- Minor airframe maintenance→Mechanic, airframe rating(65.85)
- Minor powerplant maintenance→Mechanic, powerplant rating(65.87)
- 100-hour inspection→Appropriately rated mechanic(65.85 and 65.87)
- Annual inspection→Mechanic holding IA(65.95)
- Major repair or alteration→IA or repair station(Approved data required)
- Progressive inspection→IA performs or supervises(91.409(d))
- Preventive maintenance, own aircraft→Private pilot or higher(43.3(g), 43.7(f))
- Work done under supervision→Supervising certificate holder(43.3(d))
Regulation Quick Map
- 14 CFR 1.1
- Maintenance and repair definitions
- 43.3
- Who may perform maintenance
- 43.5
- Conditions before return to service
- 43.7
- Who may approve return
- 43.9
- Maintenance record entry content
- 43.11
- Inspection record entry content
- 43 Appendix A
- Major, minor, preventive maintenance
- 43 Appendix B
- Form 337 disposition rules
- 43 Appendix D
- Annual and 100-hour scope
- 43 Appendix E
- Altimeter and static tests
- 43 Appendix F
- Transponder tests and inspections
- Part 39
- Airworthiness directives are mandatory
- 39.7
- Operating noncompliant is a violation
- 39.19
- Alternative method of compliance
- 91.403
- Owner keeps aircraft airworthy
- 91.409
- Annual and 100-hour requirement
- 91.417
- Owner maintenance record keeping
Preventive Maintenance vs Maintenance
Preventive maintenance
- Listed in 43 Appendix A
- No complex assembly operations
- Pilot owner may perform
Maintenance
- Inspection, overhaul, repair, replacement
- Excludes preventive maintenance
- Certificated mechanic required
Listed items are preventive
Which Form or Record
- Routine maintenance completed→43.9 record entry
- Inspection completed→43.11 record entry
- Major repair or alteration→FAA Form 337(43 Appendix B)
- Aircraft found unairworthy→Dated discrepancy list(43.11(b))
- Service defect discovered→FAA Form 8010-4(Malfunction or Defect Report)
- Part released for installation→FAA Form 8130-3(Authorized release)
- AD action cannot work→Request an AMOC(39.17 and 39.19)
- Recurring AD complied with→Record method and next due(91.417(a)(2)(v))
Required Record Entries
- 43.9 first item
- Description of work performed
- 43.9 second item
- Date the work completed
- 43.9 third item
- Name of person performing
- 43.9 fourth item
- Signature, certificate number, kind
- 43.11 first item
- Inspection type and extent
- 43.11 second item
- Date and total time
- 43.11 third item
- Signature, number, certificate kind
- Airworthy wording
- Certify inspected, airworthy condition
- Unairworthy wording
- Dated discrepancy list provided
- Inoperative equipment
- Placard and list it
- Work records kept
- One year or until superseded
- Permanent records
- Transfer with the aircraft
- AD record content
- Number, date, method, next due
Approved vs Acceptable Data
Approved data
- FAA specifically approved
- Major repair or alteration
- STC, AD, approved 337
Acceptable data
- Manufacturer manual, AC 43.13
- Minor repair or alteration
- Not FAA approved
Major needs approved data
Part 65 Mechanic Rules
- 65.17
- Passing grade is 70 percent
- 65.19
- Retest after 30 days
- 65.19 shortcut
- Signed statement of instruction
- 65.71
- Age 18, English, 24 months
- 65.75
- Written test from the ACS
- 65.77 one rating
- 18 months practical experience
- 65.77 both ratings
- 30 months concurrent experience
- 65.80
- School students may test early
- 65.81
- Never approve unfamiliar work
- 65.83
- Six months within 24
- 65.85
- Airframe 100-hour return privilege
- 65.87
- Powerplant and propeller privileges
- 65.91
- Inspection authorization eligibility
- 65.95
- IA annual, major repairs
Physics Facts and Laws
- Standard pressure
- 29.92 inHg, 14.7 psi
- Standard temperature
- 15 C, or 59 F
- One horsepower
- 33,000 ft-lb per minute
- Horsepower per second
- 550 ft-lb per second
- Work
- Force times distance
- Power
- Work divided by time
- Bernoulli
- Velocity up, pressure down
- Pascal
- Pressure acts equally everywhere
- Boyle
- Pressure up, volume down
- Charles
- Temperature up, volume up
- Newton third law
- Equal and opposite reaction
- Specific gravity
- Density compared with water
- Mechanical advantage
- Resistance divided by effort
100-Hour vs Annual
100-hour
- Every 100 hours
- Only for hire operations
- Rated mechanic signs
Annual
- Every 12 calendar months
- All part 91 aircraft
- Only an IA signs
Same scope, different signer
Which Inspection Applies
- Private aircraft, no hire→Annual only(12 calendar months)
- Carrying persons for hire→Annual plus 100-hour(91.409(b))
- Flight instruction for hire→Annual plus 100-hour(Provider supplies aircraft)
- Owner wants split inspection→Progressive program(FSDO approval needed)
- En route to inspection→10-hour extension(Subtract from next)
- IFR in controlled airspace→Altimeter and static test(24 calendar months)
- Transponder installed→Transponder test(24 calendar months)
- Part 135 operator→Approved inspection program(Operations specifications)
Inspection Intervals
- Annual inspection
- Every 12 calendar months
- 100-hour inspection
- Carrying persons for hire
- Instruction for hire
- 100-hour also required
- 100-hour overfly
- 10 hours reaching inspection place
- Overfly payback
- Excess counts toward next
- Annual substitution
- Annual satisfies the 100-hour
- Progressive inspection
- FSDO approved, IA supervised
- Altimeter and static
- 24 calendar months, IFR
- Transponder test
- 24 calendar months
- ELT inspection
- Every 12 calendar months
- ELT battery
- One cumulative hour, 50 percent
- Same scope
- Appendix D covers both
Penetrant vs Magnetic Particle
Dye penetrant
- Any nonporous material
- Surface-open defects only
- No electricity required
Magnetic particle
- Ferromagnetic parts only
- Surface and near subsurface
- Demagnetize when finished
Material decides the method
NDT Method Picker
- Crack open to surface→Dye penetrant
- Steel part, surface cracks→Magnetic particle(Demagnetize afterward)
- Aluminum skin around fastener→Eddy current(Immediate results)
- Flaw deep inside metal→Ultrasonic
- Internal assembly, no disassembly→Radiography(Radiation hazard)
- Composite skin suspected loose→Tap test
- Inside an engine cylinder→Borescope
- Porous or magnetic part→Not dye penetrant(Penetrant needs nonporous)
Nondestructive Test Methods
- Visual
- Fastest, surface defects only
- Dye penetrant
- Surface-open, nonporous materials
- Fluorescent penetrant
- Read under ultraviolet light
- Magnetic particle
- Ferromagnetic parts only
- Eddy current
- Conductive, surface and near-surface
- Ultrasonic
- Internal flaws and thickness
- Radiography
- Internal, radiation hazard
- Tap test
- Composite delamination check
- Borescope
- Inside view without disassembly
- Demagnetize
- Required after magnetic particle
- NDI personnel
- Qualified and certified required
Precision Measuring Tools
- Steel rule
- 1/64 inch or 0.01
- Micrometer
- Reads to 0.001 inch
- Vernier micrometer
- Reads to 0.0001 inch
- Micrometer fixed parts
- Frame, barrel, anvil
- Micrometer moving parts
- Thimble and spindle
- Dial indicator
- Runout, warpage, travel
- Feeler gauge
- Measures small gaps
- Telescoping gauge
- Bore size, read with micrometer
- Small hole gauge
- Very small bore measurement
- Thread pitch gauge
- Threads per inch
- Calibration
- Track and mark due dates
Dirty Dozen
Twelve human factors behind maintenance error
Human Factors Essentials
- PEAR
- People, Environment, Actions, Resources
- Dirty Dozen source
- Transport Canada, twelve factors
- Active error
- Immediate effect at task
- Latent error
- Hidden until conditions expose
- Unintentional slip
- Accidental deviation from accuracy
- Intentional error
- Treated as a violation
- Norms
- Unwritten habits, not procedures
- Complacency
- Overconfidence from repeated tasks
- Shift turnover
- Brief incomplete work clearly
- Malfunction or Defect Report
- FAA Form 8010-4
- Human error
- Manageable, not fully avoidable
PEAR Model
People, Environment, Actions, Resources
Common Traps
Test length confusion
General has 60 questions ≠ Airframe and powerplant have 100
Who signs the inspection
Only an IA signs annual ≠ Rated mechanic signs 100-hour
The 10-hour overfly
Allowed only en route ≠ Excess subtracts from next
Data type for the job
Major work needs approved data ≠ Minor work takes acceptable data
Flare angle
Aircraft flare 35 to 37 ≠ Automotive 45 degrees prohibited
Hose dash number
Matches the tubing size ≠ Not the inside diameter
Battery hydrometer
Lead-acid gravity shows charge ≠ Ni-Cad gravity does not
Tube sizing
Rigid tube by outside diameter ≠ Hose by matching tube size
Recent experience
Six months within 24 ≠ Not six months yearly
Test report validity
Report expires in 24 months ≠ Retake if practical unfinished
Cleaning tool choice
Steel wool suits steel ≠ It ruins aluminum surfaces
Last Minute
- 1.AMG is 60 questions, 2 hours
- 2.Passing grade is 70 percent
- 3.Twelve ACS General subject areas
- 4.FAA publishes no subject weights
- 5.Volts equal amps times ohms
- 6.Watts equal amps times volts
- 7.Moment equals weight times arm
- 8.CG equals total moment over weight
- 9.Annual 12 months, 100-hour for hire
- 10.IA signs annual, mechanic signs 100-hour
- 11.Major repair needs approved data, 337
- 12.43.9 is maintenance, 43.11 is inspection
- 13.Recent experience 6 months in 24
- 14.Aircraft flare 37 degrees, not 45
- 15.Rigid tubing sized by outside diameter
- 16.Alodine is a conversion coating
- 17.Filiform corrosion hides under paint
- 18.Dye penetrant needs surface-open cracks
- 19.Dirty Dozen lists twelve error factors
- 20.Avgas 100LL is colored blue
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