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I fly a Pilatus PC-12NG professionally and have some 30,000 hours in my log book. One day I had just flown my boss from Mount Pocono, PA to Key West and dropped him off. I then taxied out for takeoff on my way solo to my home in Punta Gorda, Florida. I had just flown almost 5 hours and the controls had been free, but the checklist called for me to check them again before takeoff. Why would I do that when they worked fine on my last flight just minute ago? But I am a PROFESSIONAL PILOT, and the checklist told me to check the controls before takeoff. When I did, I found that my boss, who is also a pilot, had hung his headset on the right control wheel in such a way that when I checked the ailerons, I found that his head set was caught between the right control wheel and the sidewall of the cockpit jamming the ailerons.
This is exactly why I check the controls several times, and the final time right before I push the throttle forward. I call it my "Snort" check, to pay my respects to a great aviator that unfortunately perished due to not making that check. Anything can happen between the time you last flew and the takeoff - maintenance, control locks, a tool gets stuck in the wrong place, headset placement, ipad or gopro or other portable electronics falling into the wrong place, stone getting kicked up and jamming between the elevator and the horizontal stabilizer, bolt falls out, bird "strike", etc.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to check the freedom of movement of the controls prior to departure. Simple as that. Such an easily avoidable mistake.
Indeed and that is actually part of the checklist twice. Once during walk around you should be moving by hand. Second is during run up you are supposed to move through the controls and declare free and clear. This is an indication of in a hurry.
I’ve got over 1200 hours in 400 series Cessnas flying right at Max Gross weight 135 freight. It was completely obvious at mid field that this airplane was not going to fly. Last thing that I do every single flight in any airplane as I am taking the runway is to pull back on the elevator and check for its free movement along with the ailerons. Sounds like to me that this did not happen, the lock was left in, and the Pilot realized it but not in time to abort the take off. The “shutter” in the controls sounds to me like an indication that the tail was “not flying” because of the lock being left in and the horizontal stabilizer buffering against the airstream not flowing over it correctly in order for it to “fly”. The pilot may have pulled the lock out ( after the son tried to rotate) at the very last second prior to impacting the mound (hence it being found under the pilots rudder pedals). When you mess up fess up. A lot of Pilots just won’t do that no matter what.
The only other POSSIBLE explanation is the trim set full down. But even then the a/c would have risen out of ground effect and failed to further climb. Baggage in 414 is behind engines thus behind cg which would have opposite effect if overloaded I'm sure. An A&P
I have a few questions, is that a Cessna control lock or is that an aftermarket add-on or replacement for the original? Is there supposed to be a flag to block access to ignition or fuel pump switches? Why can it be installed upside down to make it nearly invisible to crew in the right seat? Is the rudder locked at the same time to prevent the airplane from taxiing? This sounds similar to the Snodgrass accident last year, where a loose (and invisible) control lock allowed the pilot to taxi the airplane to a takeoff position. I agree, the pilot may have pulled it out then lied about not checking it. He might be lying because there might be a big insurance payment at stake here.
One of the two J Allens aboard replied in a previous comment thread anove and still seems to insist all checklists and procedures were completed fully. Each Blue Angels pilot always tells the team something he did wrong or below expectations during each post flight team debrief. If they can't think of anything they did wrong, they are either lieing, or weren't paying close enough attention. It forces them to self monitor and correct deficiencies quickly before someone gets hurt, including themself. If the Blue Angels recognize they make mistakes every time they get in the cockpit, why is this so hard for GA pilots to do? Maybe a rock or other object was kicked up off the runway and jammed the elevator or other mechanical failure, but doubtful and teamwork between the two pilots seems lacking or absent regardless. Therefore neither can definitively back the other up. No clear V1 V2 calls or decision to continue or reject the takeoff. Both pilots at the end were attempting to control the airplane and may have even input contradictory commands as a result?
For anyone who is unfamiliar with a basic preflight; at least for me personally , the control lock is the first thing you’d take off , and all control surfaces would be manually actuated during walk around to insure they are free and correct as well as another control surface check during the run up and/or pre takeoff checklist from the cockpit using the yolk and rudder pedals, it’s obvious he didn’t disengage the control lock until seconds before impact , almost killing most of his extended family , and yet still won’t admit to his near fatal mistake.
i take off the control lock in the hanger, BEFORE I ever pull the plane out, and i also do a full deflection of all controls prior to engine start. Not sure why they did not. I guess when you fly a twin, you just assume it's all good and no longer need to worry about the basics.
@@josephallen5856 you sound suspiciously like a relative or friend of one of the two operators here. Do you actually believe the control lock was miraculously “found” between the rudder pedals? If so, then you’re as stupid as the PIC
That control lock is not the one the airplane came with. It should have a metal flag that covers the magneto switches and starter buttons on the left hand console when in controls locked.
Same accident few years back in the NE - Gulfstream Jet with gust lock on ran off end of runway, broke up hitting a ditch, caught fire - all aboard were killed. Pilots didn't check flight controls before takeoff.
I have seen so many pilots say free and correct but never actually check if they are correct. In this case it looks like they forgot to remove lock. That move usually ends in a fatality, just happened to an experience pilot airshow legend Dale “Snort” Snodgrass in Idaho last year.
In the report from the Snodgrass accident there was shown to be enough play (in the rudder) with the lock in place to give the impression of free and clear movement, or enough to allow the plane to taxi for takeoff. A poor design that wasn't obvious in its locked position. The accident here may have been from a missed checklist item, due to distraction from passengers or family conversation. This also appears to be a poor design of a control lock from Cessna, no less. Installed upside down, the co-pilot can't even tell if its installed, I couldn't see it from the photos. Is there a metal flag blocking access to ignition or fuel pump switches? Why can it be installed upside down, making it less visible? I suspect this lock might be an aftermarket add-on, it has no Cessna branding or logo on it. How this got past certification I'll never know. The report will read "pilot error" but poor engineering is also partly to blame. My two cents.
@@bernieschiff5919 I'm not a pilot but after this and the Snodgrass crash I'm wondering why there isn't regulation to #1 require the control locking devices to be more obviously and unmistakably visible when in use and #2 require them to completely block all movement of the controls without allowing any partial movement when in use.
Quite correct Look at all the airline accidents where the crew was recorded reading through the checklist step by step, calling out items, but actually missed completing the checklist item. It's the result of human behavior in a repetitive environment and has plagued aviation for decades. Many people have tried to figure out ways to negate such errors, but humans are still human and make human mistakes. How many times have we all thought we did X or Y before leaving the house, only to later realize we didnt no matter how much we think we remember otherwise.
All very fortunate to be alive. I cannot fathom how anyone can be so distracted during preflight, taxi, run-up etc not to notice this. I’m always moving the controls.
It's easy, someone asks a question that seems important at the moment, or something happens that changes your routine. The tower controller grants you a taxi back on the active runway for a quick departure at night, and you take off without doing your takeoff checklist.
@Bernie Schiff What can be more important at that moment than a complete and proper check of your aircraft? I'm only a glider pilot, but I never took off without checking ALL controls. That was one of the first things I learned in flight school.
I'm a Private Pilot with an SEL rating on the C-172 and I'm 100% with you here - you've called this one correctly. The EVIDENCE is right there, on the floor by the pilot's feet - of the control wheel lock Not Having Been Removed prior to initiating the takeoff roll - HELLO!!!! - PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST!!!!!!! How in the WORLD could BOTH Pilots skip the Critical Pre-Flight Check: Flight Controls - Free and Proper Movement????????? Furthermore - the Bone-Head Out-to-Lunch son, who is a Private Pilot with a multi-engine rating should have been in Co-Pilot mode, not Passenger mode! He should have gone through the pre-flight checklist with the pilot and had he done that, he would have immediately realized that the Control Wheel Lock was still in position on the Pilot's side - THAT'S when he should have made that discovery - not when he did just prior to the crash! OMG! Talk About PILOT ERROR! - This one belongs in the Guinness World Record Book of The Biggest Pilot BLUNDERS of All Time - where it should be listed right up there along with Jack Gandy's Fatal Blunder in ascending to the Exact Same Altitude of a faster airliner closing in on his tail, resulting in the Horrific 1946 Midair Collision over the Grand Canyon, and Bob Loft's Landmark Fatal Blunder on Eastern Flight 401, where he completely failed to monitor the status of a brand new L-1011that he was the PIC of, that literally flew itself into the Everglades in Dec of 1972 while Loft was troubleshooting a faulty nose hear light - without him having assigned another crew member to monitor the status of the Tri-Star!
The only flight control he checked was the rudder because it moved while taxiing. Not to mention he says he puts the control lock in a bag but it was found on the floorboard underneath the rudder pedals
As soon as I seen him trying to lift off and not be able to - first thing in my mind: flight control lock. Running checklist and doing flight control checks are for begginners, right?
Fishy things: 1. Everyone has vacation time, no need to rush. 2. Control lock is haphazardly thrown on floor due to "back issue" even though there is no rush to take off. 3. Control lock can be installed with flag down and out of view.
He was post-rotator cuff surgery; I have had this and you have very little mobility for six months and that's with physical therapy. He was also 70, so his recovery might be even longer.
Mind blowing that experienced airplane drivers wouldn’t do a control check with pax on board not to speak of a preflight, but what’s worse is the guy starting up his ‘airplane’ to go take a look!
You can see no movement of the elevator as it taxis out. Normally it would be full down and some movement. I have seen more than one pilot take off without their hands on the yoke until the plane gains speed. Bad and dangerous habit. I wonder if this pilot was one of those that did that?
A pilot who neglects to do a control check is not taking the safety of those on board seriously and has no business carrying a certificate. A pilot who continues to accelerate down the runway despite failure to rotate is incompetent.
There are many times controls usually get moved before fight. From the preflight ground inspection checking movement and attachment points, in pilot seat preflight checklist -controls free and clear, again when taxiing not uncommon to move yoke around or to move it out of the way, then again lined up on the runway especially if a crosswind. Then again control locks are designed to be seen.
I've seen so many of these prop plane crash videos due to a simple lock being installed on the controls. Can someone please explain to me why these planes don't have it set up such that you can't START the damn plane when locks are engaged on the controls? Like seriously, how hard would it be to design a lock that physically prevents you from even starting the plane?
Later models of the Cessna 414/421 had a lever lock on the tail that automatically disengaged when the pilot pulled the yoke back to rotate. The Beechcraft twins have a control lock that blocks the throttles as well as the yoke.
But why isn't this stuff mandatory? There shouldn't be ANY of these accidents happening where people get seriously injured or worse due to "oh no! I forgot to take the bike lock off the wheel!". Dale Snodgrass is another example. Probably the most meticulous pre-flight inspection routine out of the history of all pilots, and the ONE time he skips internal control check, the "bike lock" gets him. It's absurd this is STILL going on.
@@RedArremer I agree, the control lock here seems to be a poor design, allowing rudder movement. I'm surprised this is on a certified aircraft. The Snodgrass accident was similar, almost invisible to the pilot, and loose enough to allow the plane to taxi for takeoff. No flag covering the ignition or fuel pump switches here, and it can be installed upside down making it invisible to the right seat crew. In the good old days, gear and flap levers were identical and placed next to each other, poor design has been a part of many accidents, unfortunately.
I was yelling "abort! abort!" at the screen, they had so much time to realize something was wrong and stop before they crashed and just kept on accelerating until it was much too late to avoid it.
Anybody notice that the Inspectors Statement used two incorrect N numbers (N83123Q and N8123Q) and referred to the accident aircraft as a Cessna U206F (which actually is N8123Q)? I hope there are no repercussions for the owner of the 206.
I only flew small to high performance singles but I could not keep my hands off the controls during taxiing, I will never understand people that can take off with control locks installed. On most Cessna singles the lock covers the ignition. So it is the first thing you pull off and put it in the back of the seat.
I'm a total layman when it comes to flying. Hell, I don't even really enjoy being a passenger all that much. But when I saw him heading down the runway I could tell he wasn't getting off the ground.
No way the pilot performed the checklists. Literally every checklist for every plane type has a line item to check for the proper, and free, movement of the flight controls. It's a good thing they didn't get airborne. Would be a fatal outcome then.
This pilot should be in big trouble. It’s his fault all those people almost died. I’m EVERY checklist it says “flight controls FREE AND CORRECT” In all caps. As a pilot I check my flight controls at least 2 times before I takeoff or even introduce any sort of higher throttle. If he did his checklist we wouldn’t be here right now. There is 0 chance his flight controls were free and correct before takeoff.
@@richardsmith4187 I agree with that, but what I meant that if people are recording your takeoff, maybe they feel that something is slightly odd. A nose-down elevator position during taxi would look odd to me in those weather conditions. Most people taxi with neutral elevator position, or a nose-up position. With that said, the person recording the takeoff may have been a family member, hence the recording. I don't know.
Sounds as if both pilots entered “damage control mode”, reasons lock was not in bag, couldn’t remember if control lock was removed etc. “For insurance purposes you understand” Everybody makes mistakes and the operators here are not not immune. By not coming clean, they put too many resources to work in a vain attempt to establish reason for crash.Jerks
I'm not even a pilot but if I am in copilot seat for take off I'm watching those gauges and looking out that front window and watching the pilot. I sure ain't lazily staring out the side window. Seems the first inclination at failure to rotate would be to slam the throttles to idle. Not try to figure out what's wrong first. You can always try again if you stop in time.
this same exact thing killed one of the best, a well known retired F14 pilot. He had many aircraft under his belt and died due to a stupid control lock.😭😭😭😭😭😭 very sad
An absurdly unnecessary accident. I can't remember a single occasion on any flight I've ever done where I didn't check free, full and correct movement of the controls.
Wow just wow, i have flown nitro fuel r/c planes since the late 1980’s & even on a model plane we check all flight control functions before take-off, i can’t fathom not checking all that on a real airplane.
I do full motion checks on the computer Sim game so no excuse for an actual pilot not to. I bet he feels like crap hurting his family like he did. Hope they grounded him.
Every Cessna approved control lock I have ever seen is designed with a non-removable tag that sits over the BAT MASTER and / or MAG switches.......can not start engine/engines with lock in place Unapproved lock in place perhaps????
PIC recently had shoulder surgery. What are the odds he didn’t remove the control lock because the release was on the same side as his bum shoulder and (as one tends to do) didn’t think to remove it in an effort to minimize painful movements. They removed the control lock after the crash before leaving the aircraft.
Shoulder surgery is is a lame a$$ excuse. TWO pilots up front, NOT ONE performed checklists, NOT ONE performed proper walkaround, NOT ONE had any departure briefing in the event of RTO, NOT ONE even paid attention of what's going on in the cockpit, as after all, control lock is easy to notice, meaning NOT ONE even done flows/scans let alone checklists. They got lucky. P.S. Not to notice the flight control lock you have to physically don't touch the yoke once until rotation which is also a poor airman skills.
@@rnzoli what strikes me is the PIC said his shoulder surgery is why “he may have missed” tossing the control lock into his flight bag. What does he mean he “may have missed tossing it in his flight bag?” He either did or he didn’t. But that’s obfuscating the issue. The issue is whether he removed it at all. Again, I’m confident he didn’t remove it at all until it was either too late during takeoff or not until after they stopped.
@@kcindc5539 I agree. One important cue is that the PIC was reportedly looking at the yoke and searching for the lock while rumbling down the remaining runway. If you had done a thorough preflight, you were sure that the lock is removed, so in case of a stuck control, the first thing you would suspect was a severe mechanical problem with the elevator, triggering an immediate and unconditional abort. Looking at the control lock at 100 kts is the sign that even the PIC thought it was quite probable that he forgot to remove it, and he tried to unlock quickly. Which he probably did, as the pin and the hole wasn't damaged in the crash itself. The scary part is that this may have occurred before, with the PIC forgetting the pin and removing it quickly during takeoff, after recognizing the mistake. (Similar was the case for that bizjet a few years back, that crashed with control lock engaged - they managed to save the day in a few occasion, got used to it, but then a day came when the improvised procedure didn't work and they died.)
I guess the large red prominent flag with "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" wasn't enough. I am going to guess there was a wee bit of distraction in the cockpit during what should have been pre-flight.
Complacency kills, no flight control check AT ALL, half way down the runway no abort just keep the power to it ......and to find the control lock still installed is just BEYOND comprehension.
As he taxis by elevator is "trailing edge down" and never budged as if the control lock was in. Chances of that happening with control lock out -- nill. Tie a "remove before flight" streamer on the lock. Streamer would tangle around your legs as a reminder. Oh, never mind that would be the cause of a pilot ignoring that he can't move his legs and taking off...
I knew it was a control lock just when it was going down the runway, the way it was pinching the nose down and as fast as they were going it should’ve easily flown.
Luckily the kids had minor injuries, where the four adults had serious injuries. This will be worthy of a follow-up, because it is a mystery. You would think the control lock would be bent in such a way it rested on the throttle quadrant when installed: Lock=no go.
I seem to recall 32Q being based out of Salem Oregon for many years. I also remember those hokey 414/421 control locks, how could you take off and not see that thing plugged in? (unless he plugged it in upside-down?) I don't ever recall using a 414/421 factory control lock but once, and thinking "This is a goofy POS!". I did use exterior gust locks on a few aircraft but attached a cord to the rudder and elevator clamps with a lanyard to clip to the tie-down chain thinking chances are I'd not get very far with the tail chained down, and if I did, the cord wold pull the gust locks out.
Seems like it would be so much better to simply pull the yoke back-n-forth while you're taxiing to make sure they're flapping around like they're supposed to. But then again, maybe the IRS calculates tax rates on airplanes based on control movements now. Could that be what ADS-B is all about...? Perhaps the chemtrail switch fell off and got lodged in the yoke column...
Overweight or improper direction of control surfaces. It looks like a little of both. A thorough pre-flight check is a must, especially with multiple passengers aboard. Wow! 😢
Leaving the control lock in is one thing. Getting most of the way down the runway before aborting is another. If you're not off at a certain point you abort, whatever the reason.
True, but on the other hand, twins are a bit different, as you are not supposed to (not trained to, not conditioned to) abort after V1. Most of the aborts after V1 result in runway excursions and crashes into neighbouring installations.
Doesn't help that the right-seater is wool-gathering instead of acting as a SIC/safety pilot/active observer...4300 foot runway, son says they normally got off in 2000' or so...I'd think that a RTO would have been successful (or at least not ended in thr swamp!) had it been timely called for and executed...
@@bigbodyrydagarage5488 A bump on the log who reached over and pulled the throttles back to idle. Better than the ole Pic did… gotta be worth something
I work at UPS and I the small feeder planes when was sitting on the runway out by our tarmac and another one came and ran into him And I witnessed the whole thing and then the pilots got out the packages were flying and then the other plane took off they got in trouble for leaving an accident
The wife did this by starting an argument before and during take off. Everyone else suffered because he was in victim survival mode and couldn't concentrate on his pre trip. Let's hope the alligators got her first. Don't ever fly with your wife!!!
