I believe the first time this cable problem occured in the 76 was in Thailand. Quite a few of us had reported that that particular 76 had stiff rudder pedals. Finally one night, as we flew all day & the engineers engineered all night, the cables were undone & reassembled. The base manager, who also happened to be a licensed engineer, did an early morning ground run, said they were still a bit stiff & that he would do the 0600 take off & then get the machine grounded for a more comprehansive check in daylight.
Tragically the cable gave way at 6000 ft & the 76 spun all the way down to the sea killing all 14 on board. Since then the steel pins were replaced with nylon (or whatever), inspection holes made so that you can see the cables & the centering spring fitted.
Having flown over 30 different 76s, not too many have identical pedal pressure, so having a slightly stiff pedal doesn't always raise alarm bells.
