The pilot departed his home airport in Tennille, Georgia, to fly in the local area in his SuperSTOL.
The flight was uneventful and after about 10 to 15 minutes he began navigating back to the airport. While in level flight, approaching the airport’s traffic pattern area, about 2,500 feet mean sea level, he observed that the airplane’s nose started drifting down to about 45° pitch down. He moved the control stick and there was “nothing” for elevator control, he told investigators. He realized that “elevator control authority was lost” as it felt like the control stick had become disconnected. The roll/aileron control authority continued to function.
He reduced power, tightened his seatbelt, and the airplane’s pitch continued to decrease, but as airspeed increased, the pitch attitude “increased somewhat” to about 30° pitch down. The airplane continued to descend towards terrain. Shortly before impact, he maneuvered to the right to avoid a house and subsequently hit a tree and terrain.
The fuselage and wings sustained substantial damage. He sustained minor injuries in the crash.
A post-accident inspection of the airplane found that the connection point between the elevator push rod and the control stick mixer was missing all of its hardware, which normally would be secured with a locknut (the missing hardware was not recovered).
The pilot told investigators that he performed the most recent condition inspection of the airplane two months before the accident. He reported that the elevator system and its hardware were not removed during the most recent inspection.
The pilot was unable to produce the maintenance records despite repeated requests, nor did he hold a repairman certificate. The pilot, who was the builder of the airplane, reported that it had accumulated 130 hours of total flight time.
Probable Cause: The loss of elevator control during flight due to the elevator control rod and its hardware disconnecting from its installation area, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent into trees and terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s inadequate inspection of the airplane and improperly performing the condition inspection without holding a repairman certificate.
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This June 2024 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.
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