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Difficult operation of cowl flaps while in flight
November 1, 2026
I recently had to replace the cowl flap cable on my F33A after some major maintenance relating to a nose gear collapse. After picking up the aircraft and flying it home from these repairs, I noted the cowl flaps were not functional. I purchased a new cable from Textron Aviation and had it installed by the repair shop. Testing it on the ground, everything seemed fine. While flying, closing the flaps was very difficult and required two hands of pressure, while opening them prior to landing was still quite difficult, but was a one-hand operation. I was pressing the center “release button” on the control. I complained to my more trusted mechanic, and he checked it on the ground and found them easy to move. Looking under the cowl, the visible cranks and linkages were free of any interference. The fact that they are more difficult to close while in the airstream than open them seems counterintuitive.
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