Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Monterey, California 93940
Tuesady, July 18, 2000 18:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While climbing through FL200, the autopilot pitch trim master caution warning light and the autopilot pitch trim nose down master caution warning light illuminated, and the trim froze at four units of trim. The autopilot was disengaged in accordance with AFM procedures to resolve the problem. The flight crew had to maintain about 2 inches of forward pressure on the flight control column to maintain level flight. The first officer reported that the stabilizer trim could be manually adjusted up and down, but at no point would the trim go below four units of trim. The Horizontal Stabilizer Trim Actuator (HSTA) and Motor Control Unit (MCU) were replaced, and the airplane underwent a series of diagnostic checks and a functional flight test with no mechanical anomalies noted. During removal of the HSTA and MCU a component was heard moving inside the HSTA. Teardown of the HSTA revealed that the Channel 1 bell gear had separated from its four mounting tabs. It was also noted that two of the main spur gear bolts had backed out, and were loose and out of position in the HSTA. The other two main spur gear bolts were finger-tight, but remained in place. SB 8396-27-02 was developed as a result of repeated bell gear failures, about 66 in the past 6 years. The SB called for replacement of the existing bell gear with a new stronger bell gear. SL 8396-27-01 resulted from repeated main spur gear bolts backing out in service. The main spur gear bolts now require Loctite be used with the new bolts and new torque values be applied to the bolts. Review of the operator's FAA approved Operating Specifications disclosed that compliance with manufacturers SB's and SL's is not mandatory.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue failure of the bell gear in the horizontal stabilizer trim actuator system.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/18/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1845 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | MONTEREY |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93940 |
| 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 | 1456 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FAT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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 | 23 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11505 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 19 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2002 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N97325 |
| NTSB Number | LAX00IA272 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Canadair |
| Aircraft Model | CL-65 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CL-65 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7325 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 53000 |
| 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 | 55 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MESA AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 410 NORTH 44TH STREET STE 700 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PHOENIX |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85008 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | MASA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | MRY |
| Departure City | MONTEREY |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1820 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PHX |
| Destination City | PHOENIX |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2002 4:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |