CTL WHEEL BREAKS DURING FLARE MANEUVER ON A C172. LNDG WAS FIRM; BUT SUCCESSFUL.

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DURING LNDG FLARE THE CTL YOKE HANDLE SNAPPED IN 2 AT THE APPROX 8 O'CLOCK POS ON THE HANDLE. THIS CAUSED A MOMENTARY MILD PITCH NOSE DOWN AND SOONER THAN PLANNED CONTACT OF THE MAIN LNDG GEAR WITH THE APCH END OF THE RWY. FURTHER LOSS OF CTL WAS AVOIDED BY THE PLT GRASPING THE CTL YOKE POST DIRECTLY TO COMPLETE THE REST OF THE LNDG UNEVENTFULLY. THE WIND CONDITION WAS CALM. THIS MAY HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT AN EVENT IF XWIND HAD BEEN SIGNIFICANT. THE CAUSE OF THE PROB WAS FAILURE TO NOTICE OR LACK OF ANY SIGNS OF FATIGUE ON THE CTL YOKE HANDLE WHICH WAS MOLDED PLASTIC. THE ACFT IS VINTAGE 1963 AND OTHERWISE IN EXCELLENT MAINT CONDITION. CAREFUL INSPECTION OF THESE HANDLES DURING PREFLT MIGHT REVEAL TELLTALE CRACKS -- I'M NOT SURE. I HAVE ALWAYS ACCEPTED THE HANDLES AS A HIGH INTEGRITY ITEM IF THEY LOOK AND FEEL SMOOTH TO THE TOUCH AND FEEL FIRMLY MOUNTED AND PROPERLY ALIGNED WITH AILERON POS DURING PREFLT CHKS. BOTH HANDLES WILL BE METAL REPLACEMENTS BEFORE NEXT FLT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR SAID THAT THIS WAS THE R CTL WHEEL. THE L HAD BEEN REPLACED SEVERAL YRS EARLIER DUE TO DETERIORATION.