What is this...

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

Final Approach
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One is a pencil. What is the other one?
 

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AuntPeggy said:
One is a pencil. What is the other one?
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A rod (bent) with a ball end fitting on each end. Is it something you found on the ground under the airplane???

A little more context would help. Or is this just a quiz?
 
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Whoa. Somewhere there is an aileron or a flap that doesn't work correctly (might be a cowl flap actuator....)
 
That's definitely an interlink cable of some sort. If you found it near an airplane, I wouldn't fly it until a mechanic confirms it's not missing from that airplane.
 
Her plane is in annual right now (I think) so I'm sure there's an interesting story behind it for sure!
 
Maybe an aileron push-pull rod, they do get bent in heavy winds with the gust lock in place.

Kevin
 
kmead said:
Maybe an aileron push-pull rod, they do get bent in heavy winds with the gust lock in place.

Kevin
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You win the prize.

This is a cautionary tale. When the rod wouldn't rotate on pre-flight we thought a bearing was frozen. We were able to fly and the ailerons seemed to operate just fine. Our mechanic was not amused.

Next question, why was only one rod bent? (I don't know the answer to this one.)
 
AuntPeggy said:
You win the prize.

This is a cautionary tale. When the rod wouldn't rotate on pre-flight we thought a bearing was frozen. We were able to fly and the ailerons seemed to operate just fine. Our mechanic was not amused.

Next question, why was only one rod bent? (I don't know the answer to this one.)
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Not the first place I would look for a keen sense of humor.
 
kmead said:
Maybe an aileron push-pull rod, they do get bent in heavy winds with the gust lock in place.

Kevin
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Gust locks should not go on the internal controls, but that seems to be where every manufacturer puts them.
 
AuntPeggy said:
You win the prize.

This is a cautionary tale. When the rod wouldn't rotate on pre-flight we thought a bearing was frozen. We were able to fly and the ailerons seemed to operate just fine. Our mechanic was not amused.

Next question, why was only one rod bent? (I don't know the answer to this one.)
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When you centered the control, where both sides alinged evenly?
Did it take a little side stick force to fly wings level?

mmm... got to be something wrong there..
 
BillTIZ said:
When you centered the control, where both sides alinged evenly?
Did it take a little side stick force to fly wings level?

mmm... got to be something wrong there..
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It wouldn't change the stick force, but would put it off center a bit. The carrythrough cable balances the loads.

We had an airplane come back from a long crosscountry trip with a bent aileron pushrod. Never did figure out what caused it. I had initially suspected that some kid had hung off the trailing edge but there was none of the expected deformation there. The rod is 1/4" 4130 and could buckle under compression loading, and can also get bent if the bellcrank end of the rod is disconnected during maintenance and the aileron is raised too far.

Dan
 
AuntPeggy said:
Next question, why was only one rod bent? (I don't know the answer to this one.)
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Because when this one was being pushed/bent, the other side was being pulled/straightened? Or, more likely assuming a gust lock installed on the yoke, the aileron being pushed by the wind was getting it's rod bent and the gust lock prevented any movement at all on the other side.
 
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Is it a Cessna?
The ones I have seen, the aileron 'hits the stop' when a fixed pin (see pic) encounters the end of a curved slot in the bellcrank (the bellcrank which this rod attaches to).

So you can push hard on the aileron with your hand/a truck/the wind, and once it hits the stop, further pushing will not affect the other aileron or cables or the rest of the system at all.
 

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I'd add that, although external gust locks are a fine idea, the internal gust locks are still quite valuable, because it is not the static force exerted by the wind on the control surface that will cause bending such as Peggy had, but rather, the slamming of the control surface against its mechanical limit in the pushing direction. IN addition, after a force which caused that sort of bending, I'd expect a careful inspection of the cables and pulleys and their mountings would be called-for- that's quite a lot of slamming force!
 
Skip Miller said:
I've read the string and have seen the answer. I will also offer that it is a good reason for an annual inspection!

-Skip
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I'm very glad for this annual. It costs a lot of money in these days when we only have one income, but it is worth it.
SCCutler said:
I'd add that, although external gust locks are a fine idea, the internal gust locks are still quite valuable, because it is not the static force exerted by the wind on the control surface that will cause bending such as Peggy had, but rather, the slamming of the control surface against its mechanical limit in the pushing direction. IN addition, after a force which caused that sort of bending, I'd expect a careful inspection of the cables and pulleys and their mountings would be called-for- that's quite a lot of slamming force!
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We once had a rudder lock on the plane, but it was rubbing the paint and we were concerned that it could damage the surface it was meant to protect, so we stopped using it.

There have been times when we found the plane had been pushed around by the wind so much the tires had danced outside the chocks. We push them in front and back of each main.

I also wonder whether a heavy snow and ice load would cause problems. We usually try to get out to the airport to brush off snow after a particularly heavy snow, but this year pneumonia kept us away.
 
SCCutler said:
I'd add that, although external gust locks are a fine idea, the internal gust locks are still quite valuable, because it is not the static force exerted by the wind on the control surface that will cause bending such as Peggy had, but rather, the slamming of the control surface against its mechanical limit in the pushing direction. IN addition, after a force which caused that sort of bending, I'd expect a careful inspection of the cables and pulleys and their mountings would be called-for- that's quite a lot of slamming force!
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Now that makes the most sense. It was likely the lack of a control lock that did it, allowing the controls to hit the stops.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
Now that makes the most sense. It was likely the lack of a control lock that did it, allowing the controls to hit the stops.

Dan
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Except that we have not forgotten to put in the gust lock.
 
Well, here is another way to view that photo.

2 rod ends @ $25.00 each. . . . . . 50.00
1 pushrod @ 200.00. . . . . . . . . .200.00
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250.00
1 hr Labor @ $70 per hour . . . . . .70.00
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $320.00

BTW, according to our mechanic, some aircraft parts are expensive because they are made of unobtainium.:smile:
 
AuntPeggy said:
2 rod ends @ $25.00 each. . . . . . 50.00
1 pushrod @ 200.00. . . . . . . . . .200.00
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250.00
1 hr Labor @ $70 per hour . . . . . .70.00
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $320.00
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Owning un-bent metal.....Priceless!
 
I'd probably be a little concerned with how it became bent in the first place.
 
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