interior door handles
NOTICE: None of the parts on this web site are PMA’d!
You and your IA will need to decide whether these meet the requirements of owner-produced parts for installation on your airplane.
If you need a replacement for the interior door handles (Cessna® p/n 0517039-2), until recently your options have been limited. It has been pointed out that aftermarket door handles from 196o’s Ford/Mercury cars will work on the Cardinal. While it is true that they will fit, I recommend skipping that particular shortcut because the versions commonly available on the internet (~$26) have a cheap pot metal spline which will strip in about 5 uses. This is not a part that you want to fail in the event of the necessity of a rapid egress. A replacement certified handle is available from Air Power Inc. It has a different material in the spline location which should be more robust. The price from them as of 28 April 2013, including shipping, was $189.65. I bought one of these and it’s working fine. Macfarlane also has a new design.
I was tired of fighting the hidden spring clip that the original design used and I was looking for additional flexibility in handle design. To that end, I came up with an assembly design that grants access to the attaching hardware from the front. The Velocolutions handle consists of three pieces: 1. Handle, 2. Spline, and 3. Cover. The three provided machine screws pass through the Cover and Handle and screw into the spline. This pulls all of the hardware together and secures it to the spindle in the door. The Handle is made of 304 stainless steel and powder coated in gloss grey. The Spline is made of 316 stainless steel. The Cover is made of 6061-T6 aluminum. NOTE: These are the Rev A version of the Handle. The primary differences are: 1. There are three screws holding the assembly together. These are standard #8×32 1/2″ stainless steel machine screws. 2. The Cover is made of Aluminum vs. Stainless Steel on the Rev- version. The screw holes are countersunk which allows the screw heads to sit flush with the surface of the Cover. The Cover also has a “brushed” finish vs. a polished finish. This is cheaper and easier to fabricate and doesn’t show fingerprints. 3. The Spline has three holes (obviously) and is made of 316 Stainless. 4. Finally the Handle has the holes repositioned to match the other hardware.
There are a limited number of Rev- assemblies available for $75 each while supplies last. If you want this version, please specify when contacting me.
Let’s talk about colors. I have five sets in stock in “gloss gray.” This is a different finish from the metallic gray in my first production run of Rev- parts. In general, I prefer the metallic look but it just so happens that gloss gray matches my plane’s interior which was a happy coincidence because I didn’t realize what I was ordering at the time. I can powder coat the Handles in several different colors (Gloss Black, Matte Black, Textured Black, Wrinkle Black, Gloss Gray, Metallic Gray, Gloss Blue, Gloss Green, Gloss Red, and Gloss Yellow) at no extra charge. This will add about a week to production time though.
Although it wasn’t a primary design consideration, the replacement handles are lighter than the original. The photo on the left is the original (206g) and the photo on the right is the Velocolutions part (148g).
Images of the Rev- Handles are shown below.
These handles may work on other models and years of Cessna® airplanes. For example, here are some pics from an installation on a 1970 Cessna® 172L.
Price: $100.00 each ($200.00 pair) Free shipping (CONUS)
Return policy: If you’re not satisfied for any reason, I will refund 100% of your purchase price.
How to pay: PayPal (username “mjparry@verizon.net”), Zelle (contact number: 8058161291), or check payable to: Matt Parry, 531 Geranium Pl, Oxnard, CA 93036
The Handle assemblies are made in the USA.
