Incident
During the initial climb after takeoff, an elevator trim cable failed at a pulley located at fuselage station 275. The flight remained airborne to burn off fuel and subsequently landed without further incident.
Examination
Metallurgical examination of the failed cable revealed that 42 of its 49 individual wires had failed due to fatigue. The cable had accumulated a total time of 10,562.3 hours and 14,525 cycles at the time of failure.
Inspection History
Elevator trim cable segments were only required to undergo a visual inspection every 4,800 hours or 48 months. The trim cable segments involved had been last inspected 22 months earlier, accumulating 2,456.9 hours and 2,290 cycles since that inspection.