Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Angelo Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Angelo, Texas 76901
Saturday, August 12, 2000 13:03 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was descending through 14,500 feet when an uncommanded disconnect of the autopilot occurred, and the airplane "abruptly" pitched up from 5 degrees nose down to 15 degrees nose up (pitch reversion). Simultaneously, the captain and first officer applied forward pressure on their control columns to regain control of the airplane. The airplane was re-established in a descent and the flight crew found that the airplane was controllable in the landing configuration. Subsequently, the flight landed without further incident. Post incident examination of the airplane revealed that the right elevator trim control wheel was improperly installed. The installation allowed the autopilot trim servo to request nose down trim until the trim tab actuators had reached their physical limits. The autopilot trim servo continued to request nose down trim, loading the elevator trim system cables, until the autopilot disconnected. During the examination, it was also noted that the trim tab deflections and cable tensions did not meet manufacturer specifications. Review of maintenance records revealed two instances when the elevator pitch trim system underwent maintenance. On April 14, 1998, the right side elevator trim control wheel was removed and reinstalled "while aligning stop arm into wheel." Continental Express reported that the trim tabs were adjusted during the maintenance. On August 11, 2000, the following maintenance write-up was recorded in the aircraft flight log: "Elev trim will not go full forward, stops at two units." The flight log indicated that the following corrective action was taken; "Lubed trim wheel for elev trim." Continental Express reported that the trim wheel was not removed during this corrective action.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the improper installation of the right elevator trim control wheel by company mechanics, which resulted in an elevator trim malfunction.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 8/12/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1303 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Angelo |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 76901 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | San Angelo Regional |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SJT |
| 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 | 1917 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SJT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1917 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4573 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 22 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11744 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 12 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2002 12:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N16718 |
| NTSB Number | FTW00IA228 |
| 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 | Embraer |
| Aircraft Model | EMB-120ER |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | EMB-120ER |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 120136 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 26609 |
| 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 | 33 |
| 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 | 22727.4 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Chase Manhattan Bank and Trust Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 101 California Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Francisco |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94111 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Continental Express Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1600 Smith Street |
| Operator City | Houston |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 77002 |
| Operator Code | C2XA |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IAH |
| Departure City | HOUSTON |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1145 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SJT |
| Destination City | San Angelo |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2002 10:16AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SNYG |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |