What Are The Benefits Of Using Aircraft Safety Cable Instead Of Lock Wire?

It’s always a good thing when an item is created to increase productivity and safety in the aviation industry. One of these improvements is with the safety cable and just a tip, it makes an operator’s job so much easier. There are seven major benefits of using safety cables instead of lock wires: reduction of potential foreign object damage, improved access to tight areas, elimination of guesswork, reduced required training, elimination of injuries, user-friendly tooling, and a higher return on investment.

Safety cables produce two pieces of scrap when they are removed while lock wires produce many small fragments. Because of this, it is easier to keep track of safety cable fragments and they reduce the chance of them not being fully recovered and causing foreign object damage (FOD) to the aircraft. Safety cables improve access to tight areas because the tool and tool nose is short in length and can be rotated.

The cable also requires minimal training and eliminates guesswork. So you can forget having to determine how much wire to use or how many twists per inch it requires - all you have to do is string the cable through the fastener holes and the cable does the rest of the work. Using safety cables also reduces the likelihood of an injury occurring due to the fact that the traditional wire produces sharp ends when cut and the safety cables do not.

The tools that accompany safety cables are comfortable to use. Safety cables are more expensive than lock wire; however, that should not stop a company from using them. Because safety cables are easier to use, it takes the operator less time to finish the project - increased productivity reduces cost and time and is worth the investment.