# SAIB CE-01-41R1: Cracks in plastic or non-metallic control wheels - Type: Special airworthiness information bulletin (advisory, not mandatory) - Status: Historical - Revision: 0 - Issued: January 10, 2007 - Products: Cessna 150, 150A, 150B, 150C, 150D, 150E, 150F, 150G, 150H, 150J, 150K, 150L and 89 more - Product type: Aircraft, Small Airplane - PDF: https://openairdocs.org/files/sha256/76/41/7641434f7a41ac7faab123d58dd758be89b8ed563551349fdcf6b9bf26ca9354 - FAA DRS: https://drs.faa.gov/browse/excelExternalWindow/D542F329495978DA862573630056F177.0001 - DRS record last changed: September 27, 2007 - Page: https://openairdocs.org/saib/CE-01-41R1 ## Text FAA Aircraft Certification Service **SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS** INFORMATION BULLETIN http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/alerts/SAIB SAIB: CE-01-41R1 Date: January 10, 2007 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory. Introduction This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) informs owners, operators, and maintenance technicians of Cessna 150, 172, P172, 175, 180, 182, 185, 205, 206, 210, 336, and 337 series airplanes of the possibility of cracks in plastic or non-metallic control wheels. The airplanes originally produced with plastic or non-metallic control wheels were manufactured between 1960 and 1964. Approximately 12,500 airplanes were built. These control wheels were the subject of Cessna Service Letter (SL) No. 64- 8, dated February 14, 1964. This service letter specified a visual inspection and a proof load test to assure structural integrity. Control wheel cracks continue to be reported in FAA Service Difficulty Reports. No accidents have been reported although one incident was reported in 2004. Background Since 1998, several safety recommendations have been submitted that recommend airworthiness directive (AD) action to mandate inspections and proof tests to determine if a control wheel was defective and to replace the control wheel if it was defective. These recommendations prompted issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), on January 22, 2001, which proposed annual proof tests of each control wheel in accordance with the original 1964 Cessna service letter. The control wheel was to be replaced if the proof test was unsuccessful. This NPRM prompted several responders to object to the proposed rule primarily because the risk is minimal, and the number of reported cracks has been low in recent years. Since the proof test requires the removal of the control wheel from the airplane, one responder noted that removing and re-installing the control wheel once a year may cause additional problems. As an example, the hazard of flying an airplane with the control wheel installed incorrectly could potentially be more serious than flying the airplane with a defective control wheel. Reconsidering the nature of the reported cracks, the redundancy provided by two control wheel grips, and the availability of the co-pilot’s control wheel, the risk associated with a cracked control wheel was determined to be minimal. Furthermore, visual inspections of the wheels should already be a part of each periodic 100- hour or annual inspection as indicated in the various Cessna Maintenance/Service Manuals, in 14 CFR part 43, Appendix D, and in 14 CFR part 91. Recommendation The FAA recommends that owners, operators and maintenance technicians place special emphasis on the periodic 100-hour and annual inspections on plastic control wheels installed in these airplane Models until they are replaced with metallic control wheels. See Cessna SL No. 64-8, dated February 14, 1964, for airplane Model and Serial Numbers. If the indication of cracking is unclear, we recommend that you proof test the wheel in accordance with Cessna SL No. 64-8. However, the pull force may be reduced to 30 pounds rather than the 50 pounds as stated in the service letter. If replacement is required because of the failure of the control wheel due to this pull force, then it is to be replaced with a metallic control wheel, as specified in the service letter. For Further Information Contact Gary D. Park, Aerospace Engineer, FAA Wichita ACO, 1801 Airport Road, Room 100, Wichita, KS 67209; phone: (316) 946-4123; fax: (316) 946-4107; e-mail: gary.park@faa.gov. For copies of Cessna SL No. 64-8, contact Cessna Aircraft Company; Product Support, P.O. Box 7706, Wichita, Kansas 67277, (316) 517-5800, Facsimile (316) 942-9006 ## Registered aircraft it may concern (OpenAirDocs) Registry models matched by make and model, the same way as ADs, most registered aircraft first. - [Cessna 172M](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172m): 3,573 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172N](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172n): 3,138 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182P](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182p): 2,099 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172S](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172s): 1,915 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172): 1,805 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182Q](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182q): 1,565 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150L](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150l): 1,447 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150M](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150m): 1,439 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Textron 172S](https://openairdocs.org/model/textron-172s): 1,239 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 180](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-180): 1,177 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172P](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172p): 1,111 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150F](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150f): 1,063 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172K](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172k): 1,026 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150G](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150g): 977 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182T](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182t): 969 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172L](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172l): 857 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182A](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182a): 784 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172H](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172h): 780 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150H](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150h): 756 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172G](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172g): 722 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172F](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172f): 717 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172R](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172r): 683 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150J](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150j): 659 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172E](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172e): 617 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182S](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182s): 606 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 175](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-175): 536 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182J](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182j): 487 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182R](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182r): 487 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172D](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172d): 471 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182): 446 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172RG](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172rg): 445 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172A](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172a): 435 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182M](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182m): 432 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182H](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182h): 423 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172B](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172b): 413 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182K](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182k): 413 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182L](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182l): 411 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182B](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182b): 406 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182G](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182g): 391 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150): 387 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182E](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182e): 380 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 180H](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-180h): 366 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172C](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172c): 362 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 172I](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-172i): 353 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Textron 182T](https://openairdocs.org/model/textron-182t): 347 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182N](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182n): 336 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150E](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150e): 303 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 150K](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150k): 303 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182F](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182f): 293 registered aircraft (airframe model) - [Cessna 182C](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-182c): 282 registered aircraft (airframe model) All 118: https://openairdocs.org/saib/CE-01-41R1/models.md --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.