Steve...reading the above post, it almost sounds like you're trying to talk yourself out of flying. Undetected fatigue, cable failure, etc. These kinds of thing have been concerns since man became mechanised. Every time you get into your car, there's a chance that you could have a flat tire at high speed while going around a turn and end up in the woods.

All we can do is inspect and follow the maintenance recommendations set down by the FAA, Piper, Beach, Ford, GM and so on. Or, we can wake up and decide to stay in the house and lower the risk factor to near zero.

David