The pilot reported that, while climbing after a touch-and-go landing, the Bellanca 8KCAB began an uncommanded left bank.
He perceived that the ailerons were jammed and attempted to regain control of the airplane; however, he was not successful, so he performed a forced landing to the airport in Superior, Wisconsin.
A post-accident examination of the airplane found a 9-volt battery jammed in the aileron bell crank.
The pilot reported that the battery was the same brand he used for his headset and that he had changed the batteries in flight several days before the accident flight. It is likely that the pilot dropped the battery during that flight.
Probable cause: A stuck aileron due to a battery that had become jammed in the aileron bell crank.
NTSB Identification: CEN15LA242
This May 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Regarding the Bellanca 8KCAB and the jammed aileron belcrank caused by a dropped 9V battery, I had a similar situation in 1979.
The Part 135 company I worked for as a mechanic purchased a C310R new in 1976. The aircraft flew for 900 hours with no troubles until one day our charter pilot noted that the ailerons jammed momentarily on landing with a planeload of passengers. I removed wing and wingroot inspection covers, and after an extensive search could not locate the cause. The autopilot was checked, and no issues were noted. A subsequent flight “around the patch” was normal in all respects.
Two weeks later, the same pilot reported the same problem. This time I dropped all inspection panels, removed the seats, removed the cabin floors panels, and still the cause could not be found. An inspection of the yoke, chain and sprockets under the panel revealed nothing. The aileron chain and sprockets are encased in a riveted sheet metal cover, making a good inspection nearly impossible. Next, I removed the glare shield below the windscreen to get a better look. With a flashlight and a mirror I caught a glimpse of something between the aileron chain and the metal cover in the pilot’s yoke. After over an hour trying to retrieve this thing, I was able to extract it with mechanical fingers. It turned out to be a metal 90 degree pneumatic instrument fitting! Obviously this piece had been dropped at the factory and couldn’t be located. This fitting would intermittantly jam the aileron chain, but why it took over 900 hours TIS to do it is still a mystery!
WOW! This story, and the tale of the 90 degree fitting are great motivation to be REALLY careful with loose stuff in the cockpit, or when working on the plane. Thanks for the twin tales. I’ve heard of tools, and once found a screw that dropped through the flap console (I have a Johnson Bar flap lever). I noticed the something start to ‘grind’ in the flap mechanism, so opened the console and spotted the screw. I think the screw got dropped during the annual and never was accounted for. Since then I’ve made it a practice to put all of the screws from each assembly (flap console, floor plates in the cabin, inspection covers for each wing, etc.) in its own can. If I come up short I start looking.