On Apr 21, 11:44*am, Brad wrote:
Greetings, group!

Our local club has a pair of L-13s. *In one of them, we recently
discovered a badly-corroded elevator cable. *The corrosion area was
located was approx. 15" aft of the bellcrank attachment, under the
port-side, aft cockpit flooring -- *very* difficult to get to. *It
would appear from the extent of the corrosion that this particular
spot was not noticed during annual- and/or 100-hour inspections.

First, a heads-up to other Blanik L-13 operators: you may want to take
a really careful look at the state of your elevator cables, especially
in that 15"-aft-of-bellcrank spot on the port side cable. *The small,
semi-enclosed space in this area of the cable run is both A/
impossible to see without flashlights and mirrors (or an endoscope),
and B/ exposed to moisture from e.g. wheel-thrown debris and cockpit
condensation.

Second: we've been told that new cables will cost $490.00 each (!)
from Videck, and take upwards of 3 weeks to get here. *I know aviation
parts are rarely inexpensive, but $500+ (with shipping) for a 20-foot,
3/16" galvanized steel cable with eyes and swages seems exccessive;
similarly-built Piper and Cessna control cables, while admittedly
somewhat shorter, tend to run about $100.

Does anyone know of a reason why a less costly option, like ordering
some custom cables from Aircraft Spruce, wouldn't be legal/safe/
practical? *Are there any other suggestions that might help our little
non-profit club avoid or mitigate a potential bill of $2,000.00 for 4
cables, and a month-long grounding of our Blaniks while we wait for
them to arrive?

Thanks in advance,

Brad

Sorry Brad, all I can offer is tea and sympathy. I went through this
a year ago with one of our club Blaniks, but the cost was higher
because we had to do both rudder and elevator cables. The problem
with Blaniks is that time and metal are not our friends. None of the
L-13's is less than thirty years old. I've come to believe that the
reason that they are so cheap to buy is that the market has factored
in the cost of maintaining them. I haven't done the calculations, but
its my general impression that Blanik parts prices have about
quadrupled since 2005. And as one aircraft mechanic pointed out to me,
they were designed in the 50's when labor was cheap, so no thought was
given to minimizing repair labor effort.
At least your parts are in stock. We had one damaged in a landing
accident and the parts required had to be made up by the factory. The
order was placed in mid September and we received them in mid
February.
I suspect that a lot of this has to do with the fact that when the
Czech republic came out of a communist system, parts prices were
artificially low, and now that they fully realize the price required
to sustain a profitable manufacturing and inventory operation, they've
swung all the way the other way to excessive prices.
When you also look at what's happening with DG, you start to wonder if
the cost of sustaining legacy aircraft isn't a serious long term issue
that constitutes yet another threat to the viability of our sport.
Sandy Stevenson