Safety cables

[Oliver]

I’m curious to hear of situations where landing gear safety cables have saved the day.
What part of the gear system failed leading to their “deployment”, and circumstances/forces at play that caused gear failure.
Not a critic, just wondering.
Doug

 

[55-PA18A]

If you're ever in Anchorage, go to F. Atlee Dodge's and look at the "I was there" photos.

Jim

 

[mike mcs repair]

upper cables= when cabane attach ears rip off fuselage, common... at edge of weld of washer. sometimes when cabane breaks... but no help in a compression failure

lower cables= when shock or shock strut fail.... once again no help in a compression failure or if you buckle a gear leg

well worth installing

 

[jrussl]

Thank you F. Atlee Dodge!
https://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54024


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[Oliver]

Thank you F. Atlee Dodge!
https://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54024


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thanks jrussl,

Read your description of bolt failure. Both holes, cabane and fuse. mount, were still drilled to accept 1/4" bolt, or different hole sizes?

hydrosorbs?
Hard landing?
how heavy were you?

EDIT: please disregard, just looked up original post and following description.
Thanks.

 

[Steve Pierce]

There was a USDA Super Cub west of here that had been a border patrol plane. Had 10K plus hours and broke the hydrosorb fitting and trashed the fuselage and wing. After seeing those pictures I inspected my hydrosorbs real well and decided even though my gear and lower shock struts are new my hydrosorbs probably have almost 13K hours like the rest of the airplane so I installed the cables. I figure it is worth the 3 lb. weight gain.

 

[mike mcs repair]

There was a USDA Super Cub west of here that had been a border patrol plane. Had 10K plus hours and broke the hydrosorb fitting and trashed the fuselage and wing. After seeing those pictures I inspected my hydrosorbs real well and decided even though my gear and lower shock struts are new my hydrosorbs probably have almost 13K hours like the rest of the airplane so I installed the cables. I figure it is worth the 3 lb. weight gain.

the one odd save that the lower cables made, was when the hydrosorb end fitting thats just resting on the shock grew enough to slide over shock... think there was also a crack.... only seen it one time..

 

[cubdriver2]

Drift but this is clever



Glenn

 

[Oliver]

Looks like upper cables have earned their keep.
Barring high time, poorly inspected or neglected hydrodorbs,
any failures reported where lower cables saved the day?

 

[Steve Pierce]

The lower cable is what saves your bacon if the hydrosorb breaks. There are pictures on this site of the lower strut failing.

 

[bob turner]

I had a lower shock strut break on a hard landing. Only damage was to the gear leg and a light scratch on the wingtip. Flying again in 45 minutes. No safety cables. Strut was rusted almost all the way around a welded fairing added for speed, I guess.

I also had all four shock cords break on a particularly interesting takeoff in San Simon (Ididn’t see the whirlwind). Not a big deal; bought some clothesline and kept on going. No safety cables.

I will be a sad guy when the cabane vee breaks, I guess.

 

[mike mcs repair]

Looks like upper cables have earned their keep.
Barring high time, poorly inspected or neglected hydrodorbs,
any failures reported where lower cables saved the day?

many... see my one post above.... and many broken hydrosorbs at the threaded part of rod

 

[55-PA18A]

I had a lower shock strut break on a hard landing. Only damage was to the gear leg and a light scratch on the wingtip. Flying again in 45 minutes. No safety cables. Strut was rusted almost all the way around a welded fairing added for speed, I guess.

I also had all four shock cords break on a particularly interesting takeoff in San Simon (Ididn’t see the whirlwind). Not a big deal; bought some clothesline and kept on going. No safety cables.

I will be a sad guy when the cabane vee breaks, I guess.

What were you flying and what length prop

 

[TurboBeaver]

Glenn,
Back in the old days in Alaska we always had one of those
reverseable gear legs duck taped to the wing strut on the
Left wing. Needed it more than once if you follow my drift?
Nowadays most guys have never seen one!
E

 

[Bill Rusk]

You probably do not need safety cables if you have new landing gear. However, if your landing gear is 60 years old you definitely need safety cables. But a better investment would be to buy new landing gear. All of the failures that safety cables have saved have been old rusted out landing gear.


Bill

 

[Steve Pierce]

I bet there are cases where the limits of the landing gear system was exceeded and the safety cables saved the day.

 

[Steve Pierce]

Drift but this is clever



Glenn

Atlee Dodge still makes it.

 

[mvivion]

Safety cables are just another form of insurance. But unlike hull coverage, you don’t have to pay again every year.

Cheap insurance policy.

MTV

 

[stewartb]

New plane. I upgraded the gear with Airframes HD gear because it was stronger than the kit gear and gear is an important component. State of the art suspension. Big heavy tires. Both allow (encourage) dropping the plane in. It’s not traditional technique. I choose safety cables. It took two tries to get them right so I paid twice. No tears.




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[mike mcs repair]

You probably do not need safety cables if you have new landing gear. However, if your landing gear is 60 years old you definitely need safety cables. But a better investment would be to buy new landing gear. All of the failures that safety cables have saved have been old rusted out landing gear.


Bill

That’s so far from the truth. Foolish!


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[Bill Rusk]

Absolutely wrong Mike. Find me one case where new gear failed without being ripped off in a crash. The safety cables came about because gear was failing on an airplane that was 60 years old and had been tied down outside in Alaska the entire time.

Foolish, is having 65 or 70-year old landing gear on an airplane.

Bill

 

[stewartb]

Did you look at Jeff's pictures? That's the common failure. That or torn cabane attach ears. Neither has anything to do with old gear.

 

[cubflier]

Here is a video of a landing where my gear tab broke and the obvious terrabatics that could have happened absent safety cables.

https://vimeo.com/19094035

Photo of the actual damage.



And the real culprit that probably weakened the failure points was landing in this place a few days before the failure.



Jerry

 

[stewartb]

Nice save.

 

[KevinJ]

That was pretty damn exciting. Hell of a LZ

 

[mike mcs repair]

Absolutely wrong Mike. Find me one case
Bill

have repaired MANY! but believe what you wish..

the GEAR is not the only thing the safety cable can help to protect... modern or not the shock strus are full of water and rusting internally... the cabane ears rip off fuselage with regularity, the hydrosorb shaft breaks at the threads, the other end slides down end of hydrosorb (expands and slips over the hydrosorb).... so many ways safety cables have saved the plane... only thing they can't SAVE is in a compression failure....

 

[mvivion]

Absolutely wrong Mike. Find me one case where new gear failed without being ripped off in a crash. The safety cables came about because gear was failing on an airplane that was 60 years old and had been tied down outside in Alaska the entire time.

Foolish, is having 65 or 70-year old landing gear on an airplane.

Bill

No offense Bill, but you’re wrong. When Atlee developed those cables, there were no “60 year old” Super Cub landing gears. I know of gear that broke on pretty new cubs. And yes, they were abused, but that’s the nature of off airport flying. Sometimes things get broke because of something you failed to see, or misjudged.

But the point of safety cables is to limit that kind of event to relatively minor damage, as opposed to wing, fuselage, etc damage. Mine wasn’t new gear.....it was three years old. And, yes the plane lived outside. In Fairbanks, a very dry climate.
MTV

 

[Gordon Misch]

If the gear gets wiped off or a gear leg breaks it will swing up and or aft. I dont see how safety cables can help with broken gear. But broken cabane, hydrasorb, shock strut, cabane tab - yes. And yes I have the cables on my 12 (18 gear).

 

[TurboBeaver]

If the gear gets wiped off or a gear leg breaks it will swing up and or aft. I dont see how safety cables can help with broken gear. But broken cabane, hydrasorb, shock strut, cabane tab - yes. And yes I have the cables on my 12 (18 gear).

Having broken and bent a quite a few over the years guiding mostly with airplanes that were not mine. Pre Atlee's cables it was always a wingtip or prop tip or both.
With cables it was certainly a "cub saver"
However if everything else holds and you bend or crack the welds on the axle your still in trouble....... Skis are the worst as big
wide skis have tremendous leverage in wet sticky snow! More than one set of axles have been bent from a new ski pilot trying to turn his plane by simply lifting the tail and start pushing the tail around only to find the skis hadnt moved! Cables are the only way to go, and when your "Pioneering"
new spots the reverseable gear leg was a must. Since we were the guys making those tracks; that everone else were looking for. Finding out where you can and where you cant can be a very expensive venture! If it looked really tuff n nasty we used to wait till the wind was just right, and try it with a wood prop on in case it all went
south......... Sometimes it did. We used to have a spare prop in the back that we had safety cabled in , so when the wood prop flew into toothpicks, you didnt have to risk another airplane to rescue you. We used to do some unusual stuff for a monster moose or huge ram............. When the ground guides saw you loading a spare prop and wearing a helmet they knew when
you got back they were going in to a BAD spot!

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[Bill Rusk]

Okay. You guys have way more experience than I do.

Bill