Mush or slop in flight controls

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briankelly327
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Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by briankelly327 »

Today I noticed that my pilot side flight control stick has developed a fair amount of play, a wiggle. Removing the leather that wraps the base, you could see the freedom of movement around the pin that holds the stick in place. The copilot side was normal.

I had this back in 2017 and the mechanic was able to tighten it back to normal. But curious if anyone else has this issue pop up from time to time? Perhaps the wind storm last week in the northeast put so much pressure on the gust lock that it managed to loosen up the control stick it’s attached to?

Meanwhile, and unrelated I think - on the same flight my heading, traffic, gmu1, and gdl90 all failed. Flight aborted and back on the ground safe, but frustrated. Into the shop it goes.
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Boatguy
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Boatguy »

I think the GMU failure would trigger all the others. I've seen other threads about GMU problems.
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Steve
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Steve »

briankelly327 wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:36 pmPerhaps the wind storm last week in the northeast put so much pressure on the gust lock that it managed to loosen up the control stick it’s attached to?
That is a possible scenario. I've had my DA40 for 19 years, and it has never loosened, but it spends most of it's time in the hangar when not flying.
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Davestation
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Davestation »

Steve wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:02 pm
briankelly327 wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:36 pmPerhaps the wind storm last week in the northeast put so much pressure on the gust lock that it managed to loosen up the control stick it’s attached to?
That is a possible scenario. I've had my DA40 for 19 years, and it has never loosened, but it spends most of it's time in the hangar when not flying.

That or white knuckle flying :lol:
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Spinner
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Spinner »

I will take a stab at it. With 15,000 hour Da20's we get fore and aft play here. The bolt that holds your stick to the rest of the system has a fibre lock nut holding it tight (#60, 70 and 80). Replacing the bolt and proper torque of the nut will usually take the play out. This would be a short term fix.

Image

Replacing the brass bushings, #40 and the steel bushing labeled 50-53 would probably take the slop away. The picture I got is from a DA40 manual not sure if it is the right serial number etc.

Paul
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Steve
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Steve »

One of the control checks on Diamond's checklist for Annual Inspection involves clamping the ailerons and elevator, and determining the amount of free motion at the control stick. I am in the midst of my Annual, and I paid extra attention to this. There is absolutely no play in the system. The manual lists the allowed amount of motion, and it isn't much, but my airplane isn't even close to the limit.

Steve
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haykinson
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by haykinson »

briankelly327 wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:36 pm I had this back in 2017 and the mechanic was able to tighten it back to normal. But curious if anyone else has this issue pop up from time to time?
This came up in my annual (completed in March just as the covid lockdown in California started, so I haven't yet flown it since then, sigh). For now we just adjusted the bolts — I had not noticed "too much" play, but it's possible that it was there since I got the plane and I just assumed it was normal. The shop recommended replacing the bushings next time.
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Donut
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Re: Mush or slop in flight controls

Post by Donut »

Just my 2 cents about the g1000 issues. I had the same problems actually on the first flight after purchasing the aircraft. I had the magnetometer replaced with a refurbished model from Garmin and I haven't seen the issue since in flight. I have however still encountered it on the ground a couple times but it goes away after cycling the power. I have a feeling it's just a symptom of my g1000 being on its way out because I've also had a full ADC failure on every flight I've taken over 4 hours. That issue also disappears with a power cycle.
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