Citabria Ailerons

flyboy102

flyboy102

Pre-Flight
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Flyboy102
Today I went out to fly the club's 7KCAB. During pre-flight I noticed that the aileron hinges were all somewhat loose: The half of the hinge that is built into the wing and (I thought) is supposed to stay stationary. All six attach points could be moved by hand up and down 3/8" or so. Is this normal? Doesn't make me want to go fly any acro...

Any of you who fly or maintain a Citabria, please enlighten me!
 
flyboy102 said:
Today I went out to fly the club's 7KCAB. During pre-flight I noticed that the aileron hinges were all somewhat loose: The half of the hinge that is built into the wing and (I thought) is supposed to stay stationary. All six attach points could be moved by hand up and down 3/8" or so. Is this normal? Doesn't make me want to go fly any acro...

Any of you who fly or maintain a Citabria, please enlighten me!
Click to expand...

3/8 inch? Wow, I think that is a LOT. I personally would want that checked out before I would fly it again.
 
flyboy102 said:
Today I went out to fly the club's 7KCAB. During pre-flight I noticed that the aileron hinges were all somewhat loose: The half of the hinge that is built into the wing and (I thought) is supposed to stay stationary. All six attach points could be moved by hand up and down 3/8" or so. Is this normal? Doesn't make me want to go fly any acro...

Any of you who fly or maintain a Citabria, please enlighten me!
Click to expand...


What's the vintage of this airplane? The wood-spar wings would do that, through 3/8" sounds a little much. The spars twist under that sort of load, and the aileron hinge brackets are long, so some movement is expected. The old Operator's Manual talks about it and says it's OK. It does tend to crack the rib attach flanges near the brackets.

Metal spar wings have sturdy compression ribs that stiffen things up.

Dan
 
It's a 1977 with metal spars in the wings. The owner checked it out and said it was normal, but to I'm not sure how convinced I am of that.
 
flyboy102 said:
It's a 1977 with metal spars in the wings. The owner checked it out and said it was normal, but to I'm not sure how convinced I am of that.
Click to expand...

Now, some metal-spar wings started with wood spars, but had metal spars substituted and the old ribs put on them. They might flex more.

Dan
 
flyboy102 said:
It's a 1977 with metal spars in the wings. The owner checked it out and said it was normal, but to I'm not sure how convinced I am of that.
Click to expand...
Do they move as in "loose" or is it you can "flex" things a bit? Loose would worry me a whole lot more. As in, I wouldn't trust it either.
 
When you push up or down on the aileron hinge itself, there is movement. It's not loose in that it doesn't rattle up and down, but rather flexes with pressure. Here are two pictures of one of the brackets, in the up and down positions (bad quality phone camera). The wing spar on this airplane was originally wood, with an upgrade to metal when cracks were found.

up.jpg

down.jpg
 
I suppose if someone that knows says it is ok, I would be cool with it. But man...
 
The movement is just the slight flex of the spar as you push on the aileron bracket. The bracket is several inches long and bolts to the rear face of the spar. It gives you a bending moment that makes it appear things are too loose. Should be nothing wrong.
 
Thanks for the insight (and welcome to PoA!).
 
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