Cut, Broken, Cracked

During an annual inspection, the right ruddervator trim control cable was found routed incorrectly and cutting through the right ruddervator control tube approximately 75 percent. The tube also had signs of a crack originating from the damaged section of the tube (cut area), and had begun to bend as a result of weakening. There were no maintenance entries noted in the logbook to determine when this may have occurred.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

An incorrectly routed trim control cable was found cutting and damaging a ruddervator control tube on a Beechcraft Bonanza during an annual inspection.
A Beechcraft Baron experienced a nose gear collapse on landing due to an unconfirmed failure of the nose gear retraction arm, causing significant aircraft damage.
A Lycoming engine's oil baffle developed cracks and a missing rivet head at only 83.5 hours, indicating potential manufacturing or design issues across its revised part numbers.
Two separate TCM magnetos failed due to issues with their distributor gears (one loose, one with broken teeth), with one instance occurring at a very low total time of 60 hours.