Flap control cable

[David Rounds]

Hi all,

Found an issue with the right flap control cable on pre-flight...where it connects to the flap closest to the fuselage. In the full flap position, the cable is digging in to the flap despite it having a notched out area to allow for travel. The cable on the left flap is centered with adequate clearence so I'm guessing it's an alignment issue of some sort. Pulled the inspection panel and tried to eyeball the pulleys with a mirror but nothing jumped out. Going to pull the flap and take a closer look in the next few days but was curious if there are any historic culprits in this regard.

Thus far, the flaps are operating normally but the aircraft is grounded until we find the cause. Any insight would be appreciated. Will probably be Monday before we start taking things apart.

Thanks,

David

[Hansmeister]

Take the wheel liner out to look at the pulleys and cables. Also drop the wing root fairing.

[9089P]

I second Han's suggestion. At the annual after our plane was painted we noticed a problem like your's on the left flap of our craft. Turned out that on reinstall of the flaps, they had missed placing the cable in the guide which can be accessed without removing the flap.

Don

[David Rounds]

Well we got into the rigging and I'm still not sure what is causing the problem. The good news is that it does not appear to be a safety of flight issue and upon closer inspection discovered it's an old problem...I didn't see the drill stop upon initial inspection and it appears the cable touches the flap only in the full position and doesn't drag through the entire travel. We put some blocking in just to guard against chafing and will dig into it further at annual.

Additionally, we found that the cable tension needed to be adjusted because the flap/step lock wasn't engaging. Not sure how long this has been the case but could be the cause of the orginal problem. It's probable something in the flap itself is bent causing the misalignment of the cable. Oh well.

Thanks for the replies.

David