Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Procedure
The rental company I operate under had asked myself and another flight instructor to return the crew car back to ZZZ and in the process of doing so; fly back the Cessna 182 that had stayed there over night. A few days ago; that C182 had a runway excursion under a renter and instructor that had resulted in the aircraft going off the end of the runway in to the dirt; stopping short of the fence at the end. This was due to a failure in the left brake. The mechanic in ZZZ had worked on the airplane over X days to inspect the condition and replace the left side brakes. Myself and another instructor were asked to fly the C182 back home to ZZZ1. Upon arriving to ZZZ; the mechanic had informed us that the C182 is good to go with no damage to the firewall and engine and had us do a static check on the ground before taxiing. This resulted in us using full brakes and full power to make sure the airplane wasn't going anywhere. After our preflight inspection and the 'OK' from the mechanic; we deemed it safe to fly back to ZZZ1. I had no issues upon landing and made the safe 20 minute maintenance flight home. Upon us returning the keys of the C182 to the office; we had asked for the airplane to be grounded regardless; for our own maintenance personnel to inspect the airplane. Our maintenance had let us know that the bottom of the fuselage appeared slightly bent and that the left brake that had been replaced still needed some work. Seeing as that we had flown an aircraft that had the potential to be unairworthy; I will be much more careful next time I take a maintenance flight and see if I can get a double check on aircraft that need to flown; with other mechanics. I do not do many maintenance flights for this reason and will be much more thorough about what airplanes I fly.
Pilot conducting a ferry flight of a C182 that may have been in unairworthy condition.