4 February 2013
The FAA has issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) requiring specific annual inspection of the control cable assemblies of tens of thousands of Piper aircraft that are more than 15 years old.
The AD will affect PA-28, PA-32, PA-34 and PA-44 aircraft. It will initially apply to the older aircraft but as each aircraft becomes more than 15 years old the inspections will become mandatory. The final rule states, ‘This AD was prompted by reports of control cable assembly failures that may lead to failure of the horizontal stabilator control system and could result in loss of pitch control. This AD requires inspections of the stabilator control system and replacement of parts as necessary.’ 
The AD has been introduced as a result of two accidents and one incident related to the control cable. Piper has stated that it will help owners determine if their aircraft are affected immediately. 

As Pipers are an FAA certified aircraft, owners will have to abide by any FAA Airworthiness Directive, regardless of the state of registry of the aircraft.
Jerry Parr, Chief Engineer at Airways Aero Associations Ltd Engineering based at Wycombe Air Park, explains what this will mean for UK owners. “At the normal Annual inspection for aircraft that are maintained to the CAA Light Aircraft Maintenance Programme (LAMP), all the control cable runs should be inspected and any corrosion spotted and dealt with.
“This AD introduces a requirement to disconnect the cables at the turn buckles and inspect the various components individually. Normally the cables would not be disconnected unless a problem was found. If carried out at the Annual, I would say the AD would take between one and two hours. This is because the cable tension has to be reset accurately.”
The inspection will have to be carried out between 11 March 2013 and 10 March 2014 on any aircraft or turn buckle/cable that is more than 15 years old. It must then be repeated after 2,000 hours or seven years, whichever occurs first.
As for the cost, Jerry adds, “If a cable had to be replaced then the replacement cable would be in the region of £100-150, a turn buckle if required around £50. To replace a cable may take 30 minutes for an aft one, and one or two hours for a forward one plus perhaps an hour to rig the controls again. The average labour rate for South East England is £47/hr plus vat – labour rates may and do vary across the country.”
The full Piper Service Bulletin can be found <a href=’http://www.piper.com/Company/Publications/SB%201245A.pdf’ target=’_blank’>here.</a>
