Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Baltimore-Washington Int Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Baltimore, Maryland 21063
Sunday, March 12, 2000 18:54 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the flight, the airplane required full nose-down trim and forward pressure on the yoke to maintain level flight. As a result, a logbook entry was made, and inspection of the airplane revealed damage due to contact between the elevator and rudder. Examination of the elevator gust lock mechanism revealed that only three of four elevator stop bumpers were installed. The upper right bumper was missing, but the mount bolt was still in place. The upper left bumper was cracked, chipped, crazed, and displayed a longitudinal crack that ran its entire length. FDR data showed that when the airplane taxied onto the departure runway for the previous flight, the gust lock was released, and rapid deflection of the elevator control surfaces and the control yoke was noted. At the point where the control yoke returned to its nominal position, the LH and RH elevator graph lines were approximately 4 degrees apart. These lines remained separated by approximately 4 degrees throughout the remainder of the flight. Examination of prior flights revealed the elevator control surface graph lines were superimposed in all modes of flight. Winds at the departure airport were from 300 degrees at 22 knots, gusting to 27 knots. A product safety representative for the airplane manufacturer 'guaranteed' the airplane would have been undamaged during the rapid elevator deflection, had the elevator stop bumpers been installed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the missing elevator stop bumper that resulted in elevator over-travel and damage to the elevator. A factor in the incident was the abrupt release of the elevator control lock in windy conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 3/12/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1854 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | BALTIMORE |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 21063 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BWI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 146 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1854 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BWI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 146 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4900 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 32 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11193 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 12 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2001 1:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N838EX |
| NTSB Number | IAD00IA026 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing - Canada (de Havilland) |
| Aircraft Model | DHC-8-102 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DHC-8-102 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 220 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 34700 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 40 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 8 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 241 |
| Airframe Hours | 25347 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ALLEGHENY AIRLINES, INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2345 CRYSTAL DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | ARLINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 22227 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LGA |
| Departure City | NEW YORK |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1630 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | BWI |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 20 2001 4:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |