Rockwell 690B N77UA

Summary

On 1 November 2002 at about 21:50 local time, a Rockwell 690B registered N77UA was involved in an accident near New Braunfels, Texas, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 November 2002 at 21:50

Classification

Accident

Location

New Braunfels, Texas, United States

Coordinates

29.7900, -98.6050

Aircraft

Rockwell 690B

Registration

N77UA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Executive/Corporate

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Austin → Corpus Christi

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03LA034

Nobody was injured.

The in-flight separation of the top of the rudder assembly for undetermined reasons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The gear in transient light remained illuminated during the initial climb. After recycling the gear and observing the light was still on, the pilot visually checked to ensure that the gear was retracted. After leveling off at 16,000 feet the pilot noticed the ball was not centered and added rudder trim to compensate. Two minutes later the airplane began to yaw and shake violently, followed by an uncommanded roll to the left of about 70 degrees with about a 10 to 15 degree pitch down attitude. The pilot manually disconnected the autopilot and reduced power. After losing 1,000 feet, control of the airplane was regained. Power was added and the airplane climbed back to 16,000 feet. After leveling off the pilot tentatively put pressure on each flight control to assess the problem and stability of the airplane. No adverse reactions to control inputs were noted, with the exception of a slight buffet approaching 200 to 210 knots. Power was then reduced to maintain a cruise speed below 200 knots. During the descent the airplane was slipping badly and the ball was all the way to the right, but the pilot was able to compensate with roll input. After a normal landing the pilot noticed the rudder horn and approximately 18 inches of the trailing rudder had separated from the aircraft. The rear of the fuselage was wrinkled on both sides of the horizontal stabilizer, and the vertical stabilizer was wrinkled. The forward one-half of the left nose gear door was bent aft approximately 90 degrees. A subsequent search for the missing top 18 inches of the trailing rudder proved unsuccessful. The top 24 inches of the remaining rudder was sectioned and sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory Division, Washington, D.C., for examination. The Senior Metallurgist noted that the fracture surfaces observed were consistent with overstress separations. No evidence of pre-existing damage such as corrosion or fatigue was found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.