Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tampa International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tampa, Florida 33614
Saturday, October 4, 2014 8:37 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On October 4, 2014, about 0837 eastern daylight time, a Cessna S550, N550AJ, experienced a pitch trim malfunction shortly after takeoff from Tampa International Airport (TPA), Tampa, Florida. The airline transport pilot and commercial-rated co-pilot were not injured, and the airplane was not damaged. The airplane was registered to North Florida MBA Investments LLC, and operated by Gulf Atlantic Airways, Inc., dba University Air Center, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a positioning flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The flight originated from TPA about 0836, and was destined for Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV), Gainesville, Florida.
The captain stated that they had flown that airplane on 3 previous legs that day and there were no related issues on any of the flights. After landing at TPA 10 minutes earlier, they offloaded the passengers, and prepared to depart for GNV.
The co-pilot was the pilot flying from the right seat, and before departure they performed the pre-takeoff briefing. The flight departed and at 400 feet at V2 plus 10 knots they retracted the flaps and turned to the right for the published departure procedure. At that time the co-pilot said the controls were stiff and he was feeling push back. He (captain) advised him twice to trim the forces away and noticed his arms were fully extended pushing on the control yoke. He too assisted on pushing the control yoke and tried using the electric pitch trim but that did not work. He also attempted to use the manual pitch trim but that too did not work. Simultaneous to that he hit the trim disconnect in case there was a trim runaway, and pulled the pitch trim circuit breaker, but the secondary pitch trim was still frozen. He again tried the manual pitch trim and again there was no effect. He did not feel it was a runaway trim issue.
He declared an emergency with air traffic control, and reduced power aggressively but this caused a slight pitch up (normal). He then added power, then slowly reduced power and when the airspeed was less than 200 knots, lowered the flaps to the approach setting. When the airspeed was less than 172 knots the landing gear was extended, and them the flaps were placed in the landing position. He stated that when they slowed the airplane was more controllable with respect to pitch as the pitch setting was set to the takeoff range. The controller asked if they wanted to perform an ILS approach to runway 19L to which they advised the controller that the flight was VFR and they wanted a visual approach to the runway. They flew downwind, base and final and the flight landed uneventfully at 0844.
Postincident inspection of the airplane revealed one internal jack screw (part number 5565450-45) of the left elevator trim tab actuator assembly was fractured. The actuator was retained for examination by the NTSB Materials Laboratory.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/4/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 837 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tampa |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33614 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 275832N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0823160W |
| Event Location Airport | Tampa International Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TPA |
| 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 | 26 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TPA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 26 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 27000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 14 2014 9:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N550AJ |
| NTSB Number | ERA15IA008 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | S550 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CITATION I |
| Aircraft Serial Number | S550-0141 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 15110 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 11 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 7 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 197 |
| Airframe Hours | 8105 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTH FLORIDA MBA INVESTMENTS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2814 SW 13TH ST |
| Aircraft Owner City | GAINESVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32608-2017 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Gulf Atlantic Airways, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4701 NE 40th Terrace |
| Operator City | Gainesville |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 32609 |
| Operator Code | FBVA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | FBVA824D |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TPA |
| Departure City | Tampa |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 836 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GNV |
| Destination City | Gainesville |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 14 2014 9:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |