Looking for Flap Cables

[edasmus]

Anyone know of another source for flap cables besides Don Nieser or Cessna? Don is out and Cessna has them but, well you know.

Thanks Ed

[stackj]

You might check with your local FBO and see if they will do a search on ILS for you. That is usually pretty successful.

[Paul462]

Or have your local FBO make up a new set for you - the hardware can be ordered (from Spruce, I think).

[edasmus]

Thanks for the help. I ordered the cables through cessnaparts.com. They should be here in a day or two.

Ed

[edasmus]

My shop removed the flap cables from one wing today. Here is what was found. The cables looked fine before they were removed. They looked fine when they were in our hands but you could clearly see a bend in the cable where they were running across the sharp turn on the pulley. Untwisting the cables in our hands revealed one broken strand and when my mechanic cut the cable and completely unraveled it, two or three more broken strands were apparent.

My mechanic was concerned enough about what he found that he mentioned he was going to file a "Service Difficulty Report." I'm not really sure what that all means but he did mention it. I did not get the impression that he felt the cables were anywhere near failure but he and I are happy they are out.

I am certainly no cable expert but two things were apparent to me today. The wear process in the cables was clearly underway and the process begins on the inside of cables.

Based on what I saw today, an external examination of the cables on the airplane could have never revealed what was found after the cables were removed, and twisting an intact cable after it is removed from the airplane makes it difficult at best to see the inside of the cable. Unraveling the cable after it was cut (and obviously destroyed) is when the best look could be had.

My airplane is a 1973 337G with 2480 hours total time.

When the other side comes off I will report the findings.


Ed Asmus

[hharney]

Ed
Photos would be a great help and maybe what is involved in accessing these cables would help the readers too.

[tropical]

Originally Posted by hharney

If helicopters are so safe, how come there are no vintage/classic helicopter fly-ins?

Hey Herb,

I've been reading your signature line and as a helicopter pilot myself find it rather ridiculous.

BTW, there are several classic/vintage helicopter fly-ins held around the country, Rotorfest will be coming up soon in PA to name one.

Sorry for getting off topic.

[edasmus]

I'll work on photos.....It will be a few days before I can get them.

[hharney]

Signiture changed, just having a little fun. I really do like helicopters :-)

[Paul462]

I really like Herb's siglines - some of them are deceptively shallow, yet obviously deep - for the most part (some of them).

[edasmus]

I have nothing major to report on the flap cables from the other wing. They looked just like the first set. There was nothing obvious from the outside and we did not bother to take the time to cut them open figuring the worst case would be a few broken strands like the first set.

I do have a photo of the first set that I will post here shortly but I left the camera somewhere else and will not have it back until this weekend. I have never posted a photo so if anyone has any advice I am all ears. I can say that I have seen pictures on this forum of other people's flap cables and some of them were very alarming looking to me. The cables that were removed from my airplane did not display wear patterns that looked anything nearly as bad as some of the scary pictures that were posted on this forum. My wear patterns were not nearly as advanced as some of the other photos but mine were in the same location as those photos revealed.

Thanks Ed

[edasmus]

Here is the photo my flap cables.....

[African 337]

This thread interested me.

GUYS PLEASE DO CHECK THESE CABLES!

One of these snappped in exactly that spot at the tight corner it makes next to the pulley, invisible to usual inspections. I wasn't flying myself. The cable snapped while the pilot was turning onto finals from a left hand circuit. the RH flaps immediately popped up and Left side remained set on full. You can imagine a fairly good roll rate commenced to the Right. Luckily the plane started banked to the left, pilot guessed the problem, reached straight for the flap control and selcted up. Luckily the Left flaps retracted. result was a safe landing (with 5 scheduled traffic passengers on board).

I checked the one the other side which also had many broken strands and we replaced both.

Unfortunately we don't operate in the sort of environment where we file official service difficulty reports!

[jchronic]

I will heartily second that recommedation: Check your flap cables at the next annual, if not before!! We just finished an extensive 100-hour inspection on2697S under the expert supervison of Aeromx (who comes on here occasionally). As a result of info he and I picked up at the final CPA 337 seminar in Santa Maria earlier this year, we wanted to specifically inspect this seldom looked at area. What we found was bad; one cable frayed and the other with completely broken strands.

Needless to say, they were replaced at the cost of a week or so of additional down time and a lot of hard work by Aeromx, but it was a find I was glad we made. And an SDR report is being made to the FAA. Maybe Tim (Aeromx will get on here with more info; he has some pics of the frayed/broken cables.

Joe

[Paul462]

African 337,

Do you happen to know how many hours were on the plane, and if the flap cables have ever been removed for inspection (if so, how many hours ago?). What year and model 337 was it?