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:

Multiple critical component failures were reported across different aircraft systems, including a severely damaged rudder control tube due to incorrect cable routing, a broken nose gear retraction arm leading to collapse, and a cracked engine oil baffle.
Several of these failures, such as a cracked oil baffle and loose magneto distributor gears, occurred at remarkably low operating hours, suggesting potential manufacturing or design issues.
Two separate incidents involved magneto failures, with causes ranging from a loose distributor gear causing contact and wear, to broken distributor gear teeth.