Dan Thomas
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2008
- Messages
- 7,071
Stainless control cables have about a quarter of the life of galvanized steel cables. The stainless is softer and wears away quickly. It's used in floatplanes and amphibs for obvious reasons. Cessna has been putting it in all their singles since 1996 and I've had to replace some of them as early as 600 hours. Stainless doesn't tolerate being dragged over fairleads or rub strips, and in the 600-hour case Cessna had to come up with a much softer fairlead material to get at least some reasonable life out of the cable.I saw a stainless tube engine mount in a display area at Airventure 2021. Of course, stainless flying wires and cables are common. Some stainless is very high strength, just depends on the alloy. I don't have much experience with the various alloys other than offered at Aircraft Spruce.
600 hours. Shot.
