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BFO90FA002

1989-10-25 · NOKESVILLE, Virginia, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport W10

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF THE ELEVATOR TRIM ACTUATORS, AND SUBSEQUENT JAMMING OF THE ELEVATOR TRIM IN A NOSE DOWN TRIM POSITION.

Factual narrative

AFTER TAKING OFF AT NGT ON RWY 34L, THE ACFT WAS MNVRD TO A LEFT DNWND (SAME RWY). ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE ENG(S) WENT TO A HI PWR SETTING ON DNWND, BUT THE ACFT SPEED RMND SLOW. APCHG (ABEAM) MIDFIELD, THE ACFT TURNED LEFT, THEN WENTINTO A DSCNT & CRASHED WEST OF THE ARPT. IMPACT WAS ON AN ESE HDG, IN A 15 TO 17 DEG DSCNT. THE LEFT FUEL SLCTR WAS FND IN THE 'OFF' PSN, BUT THE ACTUATING CABLE HAD PULLED THRU THE HOUSING (PRESUMABLY DRG IMPACT). THE RGT FUEL SLCTR WAS ON. BOTH PROPS SEPD FM THE CRANKSHAFT WITH EVIDENCE OF TORSIONAL FAILURE. THERE WAS A HISTORY OF ELEVATOR TRIM (E/T) PROBLEMS. JUST BFR THIS FLT, MAINT HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE E/T. E/T ACTUATORS WERE FND REVERSED, WHICH REVERSED THE DRCTN OF TRIM. BOTH E/T TABS WERE FND BYD THE FULL NOSE DWN TRIM PSN. CALCULATED FORCE TO OVERRIDE AT THE FULL NOSE DWN PSN WAS: 121 TO 136 LBS AT 100 KTS, 197 TO 203 LBS AT 150 KTS, 200 TO 305 LBS AT 200 KTS. ALSO, E/T CHAIN WAS FND OFF OFTHE SPROCKET & JAMMED BTN THE BRG PLATE & A BRACKET; 1 OF 2 BOLTS WAS MISSING FM BRG PLATE; OTR BOLT WAS FINGER TIGHT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_BFO90FA002.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

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