Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Sunday, July 23, 2000 17:31 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was undamaged during a precautionary landing following a flight control difficulty while in cruise flight. The flight crew was unable to trim the aircraft for level flight. The pilot reported initially that 80 to 100 pounds of control wheel force was required to maintain wings level. Subsequently, the pilot estimated the force required as 50 to 70 pounds. The trim switch was found to be intermittent and subsequent examination confirmed this. The switch was found to be contaminated with, "... salt, dust, hairs and other organic materials." Corrosion of the switch contacts was also found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the aileron trim switch due to foreign material contamination.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/23/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1731 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | CHAMPAIGN |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 61820 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CMI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 754 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| 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) | 75 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 57 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| 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 | 37 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11287 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 24 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2002 2:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N421TE |
| NTSB Number | CHI00IA221 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | ATR 42-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | ATR 42-300 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 102 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 36825 |
| 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 | 52 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 9 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 122 |
| Airframe Hours | 26773 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHASE MANHATTAN BANK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 101 CALIFORNIA ST, STE 2725 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN FRANCISCO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94111 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | TRANS STATES AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 9275 GENAIRE DRIVE |
| Operator City | SAINT LOUIS |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 63134 |
| Operator Code | RAIA |
| 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 | SBN |
| Departure City | SOUTH BEND |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1640 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | STL |
| Destination City | SAINT LOUIS |
| Destination State | MO |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2001 2:49PM |
| 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 | -- |