Some Comments on Fatigue Life Tests of Aircraft Cable Control Systems

Cable control systems are widely used in aircraft and gliders. This paper deals with the problem of collecting real loads acting cable control systems and cable tests preparation (load spectrum) and performance. The author proposes a method for defining real loads acting on control systems, preparing and carrying out fatigue tests of cables revealing symptoms of fretting. The fatigue tests results can be used to predict service life, to plan and prepare periodic and details inspections. This method could be used to increase service life of aircraft control cables and could help to replace the commonly used Time-Based Maintenance (TBM) strategy with the Damage Tolerance (DT).