Graham wrote:
We’ve all missed a pitot cover I’m sure, and if you can miss that then you can miss a control lock.
Yes, I have missed a pitot cover. It was not visible from the cockpit. I noticed this during the takeoff roll, as that was the first point in the operation of the airplane when this omission was detectable. A locked control will be detectable at any point when you first enter the cockpit – by moving the controls. Yes, an engine start guard is great, and a minimum to meet certification requirements – but it does not lock the controls – it just locks the control wheel/stick. For my experience, that is not enough.
In the case of both aircraft I flew which had control system damage, is was the result of the airplane sitting for a long time in the wind with the control wheel lock in. But yes, it is possible that someone could collide with the parked airplane, and damage it – I’ve have that happen three times. Each time that was detectable during my walk around (well, once, to make it easy, the two planes were at rest collided!). I would rather find during my walk around, a crumpled aileron trailing edge, and know I have a damaged airplane) than hidden damage inside the airplane because the control was defected far beyond its stop, and the mechanism damaged.
Hangaring can be a great solution, if a hangar is available, as long as hangar rash does not become a factor. Many airports (in my area anyway) have no hangars available.
Long term wind damage to airplanes is a reality. During my work to develop a repair kit for the current C 182 strut carry through bulkhead cracking, I spoke several times to the FAA Engineer (who was formerly a Cessna Engineer) about the cause and nature of this damage. Though Cessna and the FAA had originally suspected “aging aircraft”/long term operation of the airplane, reports that the FAA were receiving were pointing to just being tied down in the wind. Some very low time airplanes, which simply sat tied down in the wind their whole life had the bulkhead cracks.
A parked airplane maybe subjected to conditions which the manufacturer did not account for well. The pilot/owner can reduce these effects with good external control locks, and better tying down habits. And, the pilot is responsible for assuring that the airplane they are about to fly is externally undamaged, and has nothing attached to it which should not be there. Presuming that the airplane is effectively tied down, and the controls externally locked, I’m hoping that while the pilot is untying it, the control locks will be removed as a part of preparing the airplane for flight.
I used to secure the yoke with the seatbelt as per the PA28 POH, and I think the previous owners did too, as the pilot’s belt return has more play than the others. I now use an impossible-to-miss-red ‘remove before flight’ lock from Aircraft Spruce which ties the two yokes together and tethers to the throttle quadrant.
With single-door aircraft like the PA28 it’s impossible to get in without undoing the seatbelt, but on other aircraft it’s essential to only use the pilot’s seatbelt to block the controls. There was a fatal crash locally attributed to this; BEA report. Club practice was to tie back the Rallye’s stick to lift the elevator when pushing the aircraft into the shared hangar. It stalled shortly after takeoff, probably aggravated by the STOL design of the Rallye, and the towed glider lifting the tail up until the moment the tow cable was released.
Peter wrote:
The TBs have a good system.
The best I’ve seen around.
