Anyone ever heard of the Excel having flutter issues with the elevators? Ran across an Excel I was interested in an it was an issue----think it 's isolated. In all my research this is a first in this aircraft that I have found. If anyone has ever heard of this happening with this plane please do tell!

 

Was this event at high speed or at all speeds? Trim tab flutter? How many hours on the airframe?

 

We experienced a pretty good elevator vibration in an Excel (XLS actually). We were climbing out and while accelerating through about 230 the yokes began vibrating (about half what the stick-shaker would feel like). It smoothed out as we climbed at 250 and we called maintenance. It was not evident during the arrival.

We met the Citation Mobile Service mechanic the next day as he was replacing the four elevator trim attachment bolts (2 bolts per each tab). I was surprised to learn that these bolts are not supported by bearings or even bushings. He checked cable routing and tensions, but these bolts were noticably worn. He told us that this was fairly common after about 2,000 hours. The test flight was uneventful.

Based on the mecanics awareness of this issue and his confidence in the fix I believe this is what happened.

 

Not for sure what the speeds were and the mx tech didn't know. If it was a situation where they exceeded red line then I can see this possibly happening. If it was at any speed ---then I'm concerned. Time on airframe was 3000 hrs.

 

I know of an XL that did this same thing back in like '03 or so. Had Citation engineers and flight test pilots flown in. Airplane was down for a while and cessna's answer: "I dunno what's wrong"

 

Enough SDR's and an AD will be issued. Nobody lubricates these things and they simply wear out.

 

Were you in icing? Reason I ask is our excell will buzz the yoke with just a little ice if you don't run the tail ice.

 

If this was directed at my above account...

Good point, but nope, no icing conditions were encountered. I wish I had kept the old bolts. They all exhibited "ruts" where they were worn and the trim tabs would have had a fair amount of play in them.