One of the variables affecting the cost of the annual that turned out not to be an annual was the control cables. They showed spots of some sort of either corrosion or paint transfer near the tail for the rudder and elevator cables. The aileron crossover cable also showed similar coloring. The pre-buy mechanic must have missed this despite it being very easy to see when you opened the inspection port on the empennage:
The plan was to attempt to clean and treat the cables. If the discoloring was able to be cleaned up and demonstrated no delamination of the steel cabling, then I wouldn't need to replace the cables. In fact, they'd probably be good for several years so long as treatments were continued. If not, I would need to replace the cables entirely - to the tune of over $4,800.
In bad need of a win, I texted the A&P from a flight I was on yesterday. With their backlog full hangar of planes being worked on, he apologized that he hadn't gotten back to me - but the cleaning worked, and the inspector judged that the cables were in a condition that would pass annual. Given these guys' close eye to details and by the book style, that's a huge vote of confidence. So instead of a $4,800 repair, I instead paid $390 (or that was what I was quoted) to clean the cables. Will call that a win!
They're motivated to get 4TV done and out of the hangar to make room for other planes waiting, so we're hoping everything should be wrapped up by middle of next week.
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