Page 200 2
nd
Edition – Rev 0
20-20
CONTROL CABLE – MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
20-30 CONTROL CABLES
MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
Inspection Technique
Aircraft control cable systems are subject to a variety of environmental conditions and forms
of deterioration that, with time, may be easy to recognize as wire/strand breakage or the not
so-readily visible types of wear, corrosion, and/or distortion. The following data may help in
detecting the presence of these conditions.
Cable damage
Critical areas for wire breakage are sections for the cables which pass through fairleads and
around pulleys. To inspect each section which passes over a pulley or through a fairlead,
remove cable for broken wires by passing a cloth along length of cable. This will clean the
cable for a visual inspection, and detect broken wires, if the cloth snags on cable. When snags
are found, closely examine cable to determine full extent of damage.
The absence of snags is not positive evidence that broken wires do not exist. The figure below
view A shows a cable with broken wires that were not detected by wiping, but were found
during a visual inspection. The damage became readily apparent (View B) when the cable was
removed and bent using the techniques depicted in View C.
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