Now as an older pilot, with about 11,000 hours in small airplanes, I will tell you, “First flights out of the maintenance shop should be test-flown without passengers by the owner/pilot after the aircraft has been properly signed off and approved for return to service by an authorized mechanic.”

While maintenance mistakes are rare, errors occasionally occur. So, consider the post-maintenance flight to be a post-maintenance flight inspection. Preflight with care, and plan to stay close to the airport. Any problem is best discovered flying in the traffic pattern than over remote countryside.

Many years ago, I owned a Cessna 182 that had been in the maintenance shop to comply with a carburetor airworthiness directive. After the airplane was signed off and returned to service by the mechanic, my wife and I departed from Phoenix for a flight to Albuquerque. My wife had never flown in an airplane with a constant speed propeller, so this journey would be a flight lesson for her.

Takeoff and initial climbout were normal. As we passed 1,000 feet above ground level, I instructed her to bring the prop rpm back for our climb. At about 1,500 feet agl, I reminded her again to bring the rpm back. When the rpm dropped to 1,500, I said, “Not that much,” and she replied, “I didn’t touch anything.”

As her flight instructor, I said in my most professional voice, “I will take control.” I checked the throttle, and it was full forward. I then pulled the throttle back and pulled it right out of the instrument panel. This was a problem, to say the least, but the engine continued to run smoothly at 1,500 rpm. I contacted Phoenix Tower to inform them we had a disconnected throttle and were maintaining 1,500 rpm. The tower asked if I was declaring an emergency, and I said, “Yes.”  Although I believed we could make the field if we held 1,500 rpm, I was concerned about the possibility of encountering additional engine power loss.

We returned flying a normal pattern to a long runway. On short final, when reaching the runway was assured, I pulled the mixture to idle cutoff, for the landing flare, when an airliner asked to depart ahead of us. The tower politely informed them, “Negative, emergency in progress.” 

The cause of our problem? A two-cent cotter pin had not been installed to secure the throttle cable to the carburetor.