Owner-Assisted Hands-On Walkaround Example

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During a model-specific Systems and Procedures course (taught by yours truly), the attending owners/operators experience a hands-on/touch and feel portion of the weekend seminar on one of the actual attendees’ aircraft. During this instruction, it is not uncommon that the instructor will tell the owner of the “donated aircraft” to grab their notebook to record items of concern found during this hands-on lesson.

It is this walk-around inspection/preflight/education session that I include with the flight control rigging service performed here at A&P Aviation Services.

Below, I’ve shared a list of items found during an ordinary Flight Control Rig job. For those aircraft owners who have experienced one of the mentioned model specific S&P courses or had me work on their aircraft, 90% of the items noted below should sound all too familiar to those points of interest brought up during this weekend adventure.

This letter came to me from one of my satisfied clients who had me rig the flight control system of his 1967 182K.  This walk-around inspection is the same inspection/service I provide for my clients who come to me for an A&PAS Service Clinic, plus I take the cowling off and inspect the engine nacelle area during my Service Clinics.

Adam,

Thanks again for all your help. Wondering if you would send the list of recommended items you discovered while you where rigging my aircraft. I need to make an order and don't want to leave anything out. Also regarding the bullet list you gave me, can you check those and associated materials to comply with.

Thanks,
Guy Nelson, Oct 2003

Items noted during flight control rigging service (just a walk-around look-see): 1967 182K

1. Noted play/looseness in L and R aileron control surface actuator rod end bearings.

This is very common to inspect at each pre-flight with the control surface in neutral and moving just one aileron panel at a time, by hand, without letting the control wheel move or the opposite aileron panel move. A “wiggle test” if you will. When the trailing edge control surface free play exceeds 3/16” movement, you'll want to replace both fore and aft push-rod actuator rod-end bearings. Total # of bearings is four. L and R, fore and aft, p/n S1819-3. If you let this condition get worst, you take the chance of elongating the control surface holes that the rod end fastener bolt attaches to. Then you’ll need to replace the $17, 0760011-2 aileron control bracket that requires reskinning the aileron. The labor to reskin can get expensive compared to replacing a few $23 bearings when they should have been replaced.

2. Recommend corrosion inhibitor application to the airframe internal structure. (I use the Corrosion X product.)

This treatment would help to keep the retail value of your aircraft high. I saw no abnormal signs of corrosion of the airframe structure, and your aircraft is based in a very dry climate. But, when prospective buyers ask about corrosion, you will be able to add “inhibitor treatment” to dry climate and (hangared?) to keep your investment sound. Corrosion X, ACF-50, Boeshield are the most popular corrosion inhibitors on the market.

3. Loose control yoke at forward box bearings.

I tightened what I could, but the 0760644-1 machine screws that support the forward control column bearings were difficult to turn. There is a descriptive article written (by yours truly) about this common condition in the October 2003 Cessna magazine, beginning on page 6898.

4. Noted play/looseness in the rudder trim operation. Hence, the dreaded … Spongy Bungee!!

During the next annual inspection, you'll want to make sure that the pedestal cover and rudder pedal panels are removed so you can lubricate and tighten all moving parts and attach points of the rudder pedal controls and rudder trim mechanisms. If any bolts, bushings and/or bearings appear to be worn … replace them! The reason here is you don't want to replace the 07606722-1 rudder trim bungee ($943.00) if you can avoid it. This component are not repairable. Undesired play/looseness in the following rudder subsystem components will create, agitate, amplify, and magnify a spongy bungee condition:

1. At the forward bungee attach point of the nose landing gear (NLDG) strut,
2. Rear bungee attach point in the rudder trim actuator chain and tension,
3. The nose gear steering bellcrank assembly (wiffle- tree) pivot and push/pull steering rod attach points,
4. Rudder pedal interconnect arm installations in the support bearing blocks.
5. Lack of lubrication at all the above mentioned areas.

You'll want verify all these areas before replacing the rudder trim/nose steering bungee. There is an in-depth rudder, rudder trim, nose gear steering inspection on page 5926 of the January 2002 Cessna magazine.  Authored by “yours truly”.

5. Noted trailing edge flap panel cracking.

Very common when there is too much play/looseness in the flap rollers, tracks, actuator rods and/or rigging. If flap extension speeds are exceeded, this too will cause trailing edge cracking to occur. Stop drill these cracks with a #50 drill bit and fill the hole with RTV-108 silicone.

6. Top flap panel chafe marks.

Pre-flight inspect those S1093-1 chafe buttons to make sure they are in good shape. Mother Nature can take its toll on these buttons. They’re only about $11 for a pack of 100 and make great stocking stuffers for the kids. You may want to consider applying some 3M Teflon back chafe tape to the contacting area of the top panel of the each flap. p/n 09-31805 available from AIRCRAFT SPRUCE AND SPECIALITY CO. @ 877/477-7823. Now, that the flaps are rigged correctly, the wear-n-tear on these parts should slow down.

7. L and R door stay stops broken.

1. The 0710626-12 arm stop is what Cessna calls it and lists it for $241 each, or you could go with the Door Steward™ from MOUNTAIN VIEW AVIATION of Hubbard, OR @ 503/981-4550. If you order Cessna parts on-line you can save up to 15%, but be sure to keep this component well lubricated after installation with LPS-2. LPS products can be obtained through any hardware store, ... aviation or general.
2. If the door stay installation is compromised, the door can be opened into the wing lift strut. If the door contacts the strut hard enough, the strut could be damaged beyond repair. Your strut currently lists for $2500.

8. Play/looseness in L and R cabin entrance door hinge pins.

First replace the hinge pin with a new MS20392-1C59 clevis pin available from GENUINE AIRCRAFT HARDWARE of Paso Robles, CA @ 888/247-2738 or 805/239-3169. This installation requires a small washer and cotter key. If the play still exists, then you'll need to replace the hinge assemblies with new. Keep this lubed with LPS-1.

9. Several plastic fairings cracked and deteriorating.

1. Plastic fairings are available through several after-market vendors, and are considerable less expensive than factory new.
2. For those smaller, loner cracks, you can just stop drill crack with a #35 drill bit. The stop drill hole should relief the preload stress on the plastic and the cracking should stop. The hole at the end of the crack also gives you an indicator to monitor during pre-flights. Be sure to fill all stop drill holes with RTV-108.

10. L and R main landing gear (MLDG) spring strut legs have loose speed fairings along forward and aft edges.

You can either go through the STC holder to see what the kit manufacturer recommends to adhere their molding with or you can use aviation grade 1300L contact cement. This stuff is available through AIRCRAFT SPRUCE AND SPECIALITY CO.

11. Play/looseness in L and R cowl flap hinges

Similar fix here to the cabin door hinges, but I noted so much play that installing a new pin would be a waste of time. So, you'll want to replace the entire 075625-200 hinge assembly with new. Once you've replaced the cowl flap hinges, it would behoove you to apply a bead of high-temp RTV-736 silicone along the top hinge line so to keep a desired preload on the hinge.

12. NLDG speed fairing has some missing fasteners.

Need to get some screw fasteners in there.

13. Play/looseness noted in NLDG torque link attach points.

During your next annual inspection, you need to verify the play/looseness I noted in the nose landing gear torque links or the fairing attach. It appeared to be coming from the torque links. So I would recommend that the links be disassembled from the nose gear (while the weight of the engine is on the nose gear). Clean and inspect all the bushings, bolts, spacers and links themselves. Replace all worn parts. Prior to reinstallation, be sure to verify that you can service each grease zerk fitting with grease (Aeroshell 22 is an approved general aviation grease). Then assemble the torque links onto the nose gear so not the have any side play, but still able to obtain rotation movement at each pivot point where the links attach. You may need to have the torque links shimmed to reduce undesired side play.

14. Recommend “touch-up reseal” of baffle seal installations.

As stated when we removed the top cowling, you need to make sure that the baffle seal is folded correctly to keep ram air above the cylinder while you fly so the only place ram air can go would be between the cylinders. An easy check to verify good baffle seal is to have both upper and lower cowlings installed and place a drop light/shop light up the cowl flap opening behind the rear baffle. Stand in front of the propeller (with the engine NOT running) and look into the forward cowling opening to note any light you may see passed the aft baffle, baffle seal, crankcase to baffle mating surfaces, etc. For each accumulated square inch of ram air lost, (undesired leakage), you lose 20% of your ram air cooling. Like electricity, ram air will take the path of least resistance, and you need to corral the cooling air and force in the direction you desire.

15. Noted damage to L and R horizontal stabilizer leading edge.

This damage has probably been around for awhile, but that nick I filed out of the propeller blade would warrant that you should take it easy on some of those unimproved strips. You might consider Cessna Accessory Kit AK182-217 Abrasion Boots installation. This kit is no longer available, but the parts are. Take a look at some my past Cessna magazine articles on the subject: January 2002-page 5926, June 2002-page 6155, and December 2001-page 5854.

16. Damaged nose rib of the LH horizontal stabilizer.

This is a very common problem with the Cessna fleet due to improper ground handling. Cessna realized the error of their ways when they came out with a service news letter (SNL87-18R1) to announce that they had manufactured a heavy gage nose rib to combat the rather large butts sitting on the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer so to weigh the tail down and move the aircraft around the ramp, when a tow bar should be used. Now, you only have one broken rib and there were no signs of “smoking rivets” or other adjacent loose structure. So your aircraft is not going to fall out of the sky due to the tail ripping off your fuselage. If and when you notice movement in this area, from thorough pre-flight inspections, or three broken nose ribs, then you'll know it’s time to comply with SNL87-18R1. This is a pretty big job, (40 hours). So give us a call at A&PAS so we can inform you of other inspections and service you should perform while you have the tail disassembled from the airframe.

17. One broken loose fastener on the RH horizontal stabilizer top rib attach, station 50.375.

A temporary fix here with a Cherry Max rivet within a 1/4” of the loose solid rivet will suffice. Keep an eye on this area every pre-flight, though, for any looseness in fasteners or adjacent structure.

18. Noted damaged to LH elevator, lower control surface.

Looks like you took on some small-arms-fire here. Those four cracked dents of the elevator skin will eventually tear the control surface panel skin. Who’s to say when this might happen or how long it will take to get worse. Only pre-flight inspections and time will tell. You could patch the damaged area, but the extent of the damage to the whole control surface would warrant reskinning the LH elevator.

19. RH fuel cell drain valve leaking fuel and the valve is not safetied.

See if your mechanic has a spare valve in his/her tool box. Have them install a new valve housing o-ring (MS28778-3) on it and replace the entire valve assembly with the serviceable valve from your mechanic’s tool box. This job can be done quickly by hand without draining the fuel cell. Get two rags and tie one around you RH wrist and the other around your RH elbow. (I’m right-handed) Get someone to help and hold an empty five gallon bucket under the fuel drain while you take out the leaking drain valve. Just let the leaking drain valve drop into the bucket and get that serviceable drain valve in the valve adapter. You should only lose about a cup of fuel if you quick. Tighten and safety. You'll know soon enough if your serviceable valve worked.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Adam Halop
A&PAS

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