MY 1959 CESSNA 182B COWL FLAPS CLOSE COMPLETELY ON THE GROUND. INFLIGHT THEY WILL NOT STAY CLOSED COMPLETELY. IT APPEARS THAT AIR PRESSURE IN THE COWLING KEEPS THEM SLIGHTLY OPEN. IS THIS NORMAL? HAS ANYONE ELSE ENCOUNTERED THIS? WHEN I PULL THE COWL FLAP CONTROL ALL THE WAY OUT IN FLIGHT, IT GOES IN SLIGHTLY.

I have had two 182B's. Both did that

Mine does does not lock either. I wish the part had a better system for locking in place. It seems to be somewhat airspeed dependent. At slower speeds they close. I have the chrome Mcfarlane type. I am not sure if the large black model has a better locking mechanism in the spring.

https://www.mcfarlaneaviation.com/produ ... 0713041-1/


Josh

How do you know they aren't staying closed in flight? Is the cowl flaps control knob being sucked back toward the open position? Maybe our 182B is too slow to encounter the problem (125 mph IAS is about all it'll do outside of a dive).

flyer wrote:MY 1959 CESSNA 182B COWL FLAPS CLOSE COMPLETELY ON THE GROUND. INFLIGHT THEY WILL NOT STAY CLOSED COMPLETELY. IT APPEARS THAT AIR PRESSURE IN THE COWLING KEEPS THEM SLIGHTLY OPEN. IS THIS NORMAL? HAS ANYONE ELSE ENCOUNTERED THIS? WHEN I PULL THE COWL FLAP CONTROL ALL THE WAY OUT IN FLIGHT, IT GOES IN SLIGHTLY.

The cowl flaps on my 53 model 180 open when you pull the knob out.
Close when you push the knob in.
Sometimes if I let the speed build up a bit too much first,
they don't want to close quite all the way.
But never had them creep open after closing.

When I pull the cowl flap control out in flight, the knob moves back in a small amount. It feels like the air pressure is opening the cowl flaps.
When I get on the ground and check, the cowl flaps are open a couple of inches. They do not seem to lock up. They close fine on the ground.