Elevator failure HKY

[eman1200]

I had a delicious breakfast at HKY (the important part of this story)

then headed 12 miles to MRN. Apparently just after I left a plane came in for an emergency landing into HKY. They were doing maneuvers over the lake, power on stall recoveries, when they lost elevator control. This was a Cherokee 180. They are based here at MRN and some of the guys here know them. They sent a pic of a snapped aft elevator cable or something to that effect. No reports of any injuries and I think they porpoised the landing a little bit and damaged the nose gear. That’s all I know at this point. Can anyone say AD? Not sure if HKY is on liveatc or not, I’m not around to check. Hopefully the people don’t mind this quick post about it.

 

[kyleb]

A frayed/damaged cable or cable end is something that should be found during annual.

 

[WannFly]

 

[Doc Holliday]

A frayed/damaged cable or cable end is something that should be found during annual.

Yep.

But, good thorough annual inspections are expensive. And there are plenty of IA’s that will happily sell their signature.

 

[Dan Thomas]

A frayed/damaged cable or cable end is something that should be found during annual.

Or cable corrosion.

But, like Doc Holliday says, that takes opening up stuff and looking closely at things. That costs money. As if something like a broken elevator cable is cheaper in the long run.

Suppose that the trim cable broke then, too, as the pilot tried to maintain pitch control. If an elevator cable is corroded, probably all of them are.

 

[Jim K]

Isn't there already an ad on a turnbuckle in the elevator cable in cherokees?

 

[Zeldman]

A frayed/damaged cable or cable end is something that should be found during annual.

Many years ago I was a flight instructor at a small, private airport. There was an immaculate looking older 172, hangared and only flown on Sundays when the weather was absolutely perfect. This plane actually got washed and waxed more than it flew.

The plane came up for annual and the mechanic started on it. There was a few minor problems that needed correcting, but one glaring thing was the elevator cable. The spot where the ELT antenna is mounted, water had been leaking through and dripping on the elevator cable. For about 2 inches the cable was VERY rusted and all strands of the cable had broken except one.

The mechanic and AI made an estimate to fix all the items that needed attention, including the elevator cable and the estimate came to around $2500. The owner of the plane blew a gasket over the price. He claimed that an annual had never cost him more than $300 bucks a year over the last 10 years.

The IA then showed him the cable and told him this did not happen over the last year, and work like this is why his annuals were so cheap.

The owner of the plane turned white when he saw the cable. He was still not happy with the price, but he paid it to bring his plane back to air worthy condition.

Another item with the previous IA. There was 8 or 10 cases of aviation oil in the upstairs parts room. When the case of oil that I used to put oil in the planes was empty, I retrieved another case from upstairs. As I opened it, I noted that there had been excessive glue used on the flaps of the box. I took one quart of oil out and was walking to the C-152 I was going to use. I shook the oil a couple times and it sloshed. I went and showed the mechanic. We both noted that the seal on the bottom of the cap was not broken, then opened it. It was full of water.!!

We checked the rest of the bottles in the case. Seals unbroken and full of water. We checked every case upstairs and found the same thing.

What was the previous IA doing, stealing oil and filling the bottles.?? I later found out he was forced out of business at that location due to the possibility of selling narcotics, so what else would he do?

 

[FlySince9]

When I went to pick up my Mooney from annual, Joey Cole showed me aileron Push rods that were corroded from the inside... (not mine). Hardly noticeable unless you know what to look for. He says he’s starting to see this on older Mooney’s so make sure your mechanic doesn’t miss that one. These were almost rusted through...

 

[denverpilot]

When I went to pick up my Mooney from annual, Joey Cole showed me aileron Push rods that were corroded from the inside... (not mine). Hardly noticeable unless you know what to look for. He says he’s starting to see this on older Mooney’s so make sure your mechanic doesn’t miss that one. These were almost rusted through...

Yikes. That’s a sneaky one.

 

[eman1200]

liveatc

N62147

-start at 18:00, goes for a while
-HKY tower points out they are 2 miles from MRN but they still opt to fly 12 miles to HKY
-they eventually "crash land" on 24
-2 folks uninjured

EDIT: also, flightaware

 

[Kenny Phillips]

Yep.

But, good thorough annual inspections are expensive. And there are plenty of IA’s that will happily sell their signature.

Many here have written those exact words. Nobody here has named a name. If I knew a pencil pusher, I'd file a complaint, to be sure. (That's how an extra friendly AME at one of the larger airparks came to be 'defrocked', with anyone getting a medical from him having to do so again.)

 

[Doc Holliday]

Many here have written those exact words. Nobody here has named a name. If I knew a pencil pusher, I'd file a complaint, to be sure. (That's how an extra friendly AME at one of the larger airparks came to be 'defrocked', with anyone getting a medical from him having to do so again.)

It’s fairly obvious to those that seek out and use the signature sellers.

I’m not going to file a complaint as I don’t use their so called service.

 

[SoCal RV Flyer]

When I went to pick up my Mooney from annual, Joey Cole showed me aileron Push rods that were corroded from the inside... (not mine). Hardly noticeable unless you know what to look for. He says he’s starting to see this on older Mooney’s so make sure your mechanic doesn’t miss that one. These were almost rusted through...

That takes me back to building the RV-9A, and sloshing primer around the inside of the aileron pushrods. Took forever for the excess primer to drip out.

Here they are, just after receiving an external coat of Rustoleum Blue from Lowe's Aviation Supply.

 

[Dan Thomas]

Many here have written those exact words. Nobody here has named a name. If I knew a pencil pusher, I'd file a complaint, to be sure.

The problem with snitching is that the government often tries to fix the cheating by imposing a whole bunch of new regulations on everybody, costing everybody more time and money, even those that were behaving themselves.

And it usually doesn't fix the cheaters anyway. They didn't follow the original rules and they'll ignore the new ones. It's like gun control: the legal gun owners have to follow a bunch of rules that the illegal guys totally ignore.

 

[Daleandee]

They didn't follow the original rules and they'll ignore the new ones. It's like gun control: the legal gun owners have to follow a bunch of rules that the illegal guys totally ignore.

I've seen this in business management and I have to wonder why adults that are paid good money to address concerns always do like elementary school teachers i.e. when little Johnny can't shut up the whole class stays in for recess instead of loud mouth Johnny getting a little comeuppance. Common sense ain't so common anymore - you can quote me on that!

 

[wsuffa]

I've seen this in business management and I have to wonder why adults that are paid good money to address concerns always do like elementary school teachers i.e. when little Johnny can't shut up the whole class stays in for recess instead of loud mouth Johnny getting a little comeuppance. Common sense ain't so common anymore - you can quote me on that!

Where our education system really sucks is that it doesn't teach critical thinking skills.

 

[Dan Thomas]

I've seen this in business management and I have to wonder why adults that are paid good money to address concerns always do like elementary school teachers i.e. when little Johnny can't shut up the whole class stays in for recess instead of loud mouth Johnny getting a little comeuppance. Common sense ain't so common anymore - you can quote me on that!

In the good old days the teacher would do that, knowing that the other kids would lay a licking on Johnny on the way home after school for costing them their recess. Johnny would shut up after that.

 

[Bill]

In the good old days the teacher would do that, knowing that the other kids would lay a licking on Johnny on the way home after school for costing them their recess. Johnny would shut up after that.

Blanket parties are quite effective.