Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
St. Louis Downtown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cahokia, Illinois 62206
Friday, December 12, 2014 12:20 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On December 12, 2014, about 1220 central standard time, a Cessna model T182T, N93CL, experienced a flight control anomaly after takeoff, and an emergency landing was performed to the St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), Cahokia, Illiniois. The pilot and copilot were not injured, and the airplane was not damaged. The airplane was registered to CCL Aircraft LLC and operated by a private individual under the provisions of the 14 Code of Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91 as a post maintenance check flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. The airplane departed runway 12L at CPS about 1218 on a local flight.
The pilot reported that after takeoff when the airplane reached about 400 feet above ground level, the nose down control forces became extreme. He and the copilot had to pull hard aft on the yoke to keep the nose of the airplane from pitching down. The elevator pitch control indicated that it was nearly in the full nose up trim position. He declared an emergency and maneuvered the airplane to land on runway 12R. While on final approach, the pilot decided to apply nose down trim using the electric trim on the control yoke. The nose down control forces lessened and the pilot landed at CPS without incident.
The post flight check of the airplane's elevator trim system revealed that the elevator trim cables were mis-rigged, which resulted in reverse elevator trim control.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 12/12/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1220 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Cahokia |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62206 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 383413N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0900918W |
| Event Location Airport | St. Louis Downtown Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CPS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 412 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CPS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.33 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KCPS 121753Z VRB05KT 10SM CLR 08/02 A3033 RMK AO2 |
| 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 | Pilot |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2014 8:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N93CL |
| NTSB Number | CEN15IA079 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | T182T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | T18208757 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CCL AIRCRAFT LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3422 OLD CAPITOL TRL # 500 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 198086124 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Olen Berthold |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | On File |
| Operator City | Eureka |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 63025 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CPS |
| Departure City | Cahokia |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1218 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CPS |
| Destination City | Cahokia |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2014 8:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12L |
| Runway Length | 5301 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |