ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 198989
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | Wednesday 26 November 2008 |
| Time: | 14:30 |
| Type: |  Cessna 172S |
| Owner/operator: | Spring City Aviation, Inc. |
| Registration: | N833SP |
| MSN: | 172S8724 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 4498 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-360-L2A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Waukesha, WI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Taxi |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Waukesha, WI (KUES) |
| Cottage Grove, WI (K87Y) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot reported that the autopilot was inadvertently engaged while taxiing to the departure runway. The pilot and his passenger attempted to disengage the autopilot by depressing the "A/P" button on the unit's control panel. The pilot reported that there were warning buzzers sounding as they attempted to disengage the autopilot. The pilot eventually turned off the avionics master switch in order to completely power down the autopilot. After he reestablished power to the avionics, the autopilot appeared to be disengaged. He then contacted the control tower for a takeoff clearance. The airplane "prematurely" rotated and became airborne during the takeoff roll. The pilot stated that he immediately aborted the takeoff, but "struggled with elevator control because of a significant nose up pressure." The airplane landed off the left side of the runway, impacted a snow bank and another runway before coming to rest nose down. A post-accident examination of the airplane showed that the nose landing gear had collapsed, causing substantial damage to the engine firewall. The two-axis autopilot system had servos that controlled the elevator and elevator trim positions. The elevator trim was not in the takeoff position, with the indicator showing a nose-up trim setting of about 8/10 of its total travel. No anomalies were noted during an operational test of the autopilot system or after a download of its fault log. The autopilot was installed with the correct software version and was in compliance with all required airworthiness directives. The pilot reported that he had minimal experience with the use of an autopilot and that he had not received training on the autopilot system installed in the accident airplane.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during takeoff and his failure to ensure that the elevator trim was properly set before takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of autopilot system knowledge.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Aug-2017 16:17 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:
| ASN Home | Send Correction / Feedback |
| FSF Home | Disclaimer | Copyright |
| Contact Us | Privacy Policy |
| Press / Media |
CONNECT WITH US:
©2024 Flight Safety Foundation