ATR ATR72 N494AE

Summary

On 26 December 2009 at about 02:00 local time, a ATR ATR72 registered N494AE, operated by Executive Airlines Inc, was involved in an incident near Dallas, Texas, United States. 45 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 December 2009 at 02:00

Classification

Incident

Location

Dallas, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Dallas/Fort Worth Internationa (KDFW)

Coordinates

32.8914, -97.0361

Aircraft

ATR ATR72

Registration

N494AE

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Executive Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Midland → Dallas

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN10IA084

Nobody was injured.

A fatigue failure of an elevator stop bracket, which resulted in a partial jam of the elevator control. Contributing to the failure was the improper installation of shim stacks, poor alignment of the brackets, and cyclic stresses acting on the lower stop, generated by the repeated improper use of the gust lock system.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight crew reported that, while in level flight, they discovered that both control columns were jammed and they could only move the control column fore and aft a maximum of about 1 inch. After running checklist procedures without success, the flight crew slowed the airplane to 180 knots and were able to regain full control of the elevator. On final approach and after configuring for landing, the elevators again seemed to be jammed. The flight crew conducted a go-around and declared an emergency. During the second approach, with both control columns partially jammed, the flight crew performed a shallow approach to a smooth landing. A postincident examination revealed that brackets holding an elevator stop had fractured, causing the elevator movement to partially jam. The fractures were consistent with fatigue failure and were caused by a combination of improperly installed shim stacks, poor alignment of the L-brackets, and cyclic stresses acting on the lower stop, which were generated by the repeated improper use of the gust lock system.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.