Cessna 310 Down in Boca Raton

81-year-old pilot; some kind of age related incapacitation?
 
Piperonca said:
81-year-old pilot; some kind of age related incapacitation?
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No. Aircraft was damaged. Rudder jammed in full left deflection, apparently due to bellcrank bracket separating. 81 year old pilot and his son fought a hell of a fight trying to keep it under control and get it on the ground. Only unknown right now is why the bellcrank failed. Will probably have to wait for the final NTSB report.
 
Ed Haywood said:
No. Aircraft was damaged. Rudder jammed in full left deflection, apparently due to bellcrank bracket separating. 81 year old pilot and his son fought a hell of a fight trying to keep it under control and get it on the ground. Only unknown right now is why the bellcrank failed. Will probably have to wait for the final NTSB report.
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That’s not what I get out of it.
Report:
The rudder trim actuator was still attached to the vertical stabilizer and the rudder trim chain was attached to the actuator’s sprocket. The rudder trim rod and extension was 1.5” and corresponded to 21 21-degree trim tab trailing edge right (left rudder). The NTSB said both rudder trim cables were fractured in the cockpit, which is consistent with tension overload.

I thought Juan was implying that the pilot took off with full rudder trim left. And that the bell crank bracket broke on impact.
 
seems like you should be able to correct rudder trim with opposite rudder pedal but I don't know because I don't fly twins. Does anyone have any incite on this?
 
francisco collazos said:
seems like you should be able to correct rudder trim with opposite rudder pedal but I don't know because I don't fly twins. Does anyone have any incite on this?
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IDK on a twin they have a pretty big rudder trim tab. I never tried full over trim in any plane.
 
It's worth noting that when controls are jammed, using trim opposite the jam lessens the effect of the jammed control by effectively using the trim tab as a mini control surface. When I read the report, that's what I figured they were doing when I saw the trim was that far left.
 
@Ed Heywood knew the pilot and the aircraft. His comments and conclusions therefore carry weight not present in the typical mishap thread. I suggest rereading those posts.
 
3393RP said:
@Ed Heywood knew the pilot and the aircraft. His comments and conclusions therefore carry weight not present in the typical mishap thread. I suggest rereading those posts.
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You mean like the people that knew Snodgrass yet claimed there was no way a pilot like him would take off with the control lock engaged?

I'll reserve my thoughts until someone actually involved with the investigation speaks up. Everything else is speculation.
 
3393RP said:
@Ed Heywood knew the pilot and the aircraft. His comments and conclusions therefore carry weight not present in the typical mishap thread. I suggest rereading those posts.
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For all the pilot's experience I can't understand why no test flight was performed after an annual was completed if in fact these facts are true.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
It's worth noting that when controls are jammed, using trim opposite the jam lessens the effect of the jammed control by effectively using the trim tab as a mini control surface. When I read the report, that's what I figured they were doing when I saw the trim was that far left.
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What do you make of the aileron trim tab being 13 degrees up for a right roll?
 
Problem is the prelim offers no evidence the surface was jammed.

A theoretical sequence: the aircraft is taxied with the rudder trim full left deflected, not caught in preflight/pretakeoff checks. Being a servo tab, and not a stabilizer jackscrew, this condition would NOT be felt during ground operations. As the aircraft accelerates down the runway, the servo tab now becomes aerodynamically effective, creating a deflection pressure on the rudder. But since that is also the direction of yaw for clockwise turning props (pilot pov), this is a natural direction of yaw already expected by western pilots, who will put more right rudder pressure to compensate. Problem is, this will quickly get out of hand as the aircraft accelerates and eventually rotates (roll coupling), and here's where the trail goes dark.

We have no clue if the right attachment bracket broke inflight or on the ground. Immediately after an annual, I'd like to believe they didn't taxi that airplane with the right rudder attachment bracket already separated. If so, then the separation could only be expected from a high/pulse pressure, shearing the attachment. Something I could see as a sudden/aggressive/panicked full boot on an aircraft being rotated with the rudder trim preset on full left yaw. Which is why you don't find the right cable broomstrawed. The broomstraw failure mode found on both ends of the left cable by comparison, is evidence that cable was attached at impact. It frays like that in tension overload as both cable end points elongate away from each other when the aircraft comes apart.

It is not a stretch (oof, no pun intended) then to suggest it is that trim position which could have caused the upset.

Absent evidence of a rudder surface jam, nothing else explains a normal takeoff followed by an immediate left yawing condition, evidenced by the ADSB track. If they do find evidence of the rudder jammed, I'm all ears. Until then, sorry folks this one is back to Occam.

Yes, halo effect is real, so I also concede my inclination to not believe that an experienced aerobatic and time-in-type pilot would have the outsized lapse in situational awareness as to not check and move the rudder trim back to neutral, or full right with a failure of the right cable. I also temper my own affinity for aerobatic cognitive spatial-energy awareness with the recognition I'm not gonna be my best self at 81 compared to 41.

Lastly, control jams are not carb icing, they leave marks behind (see Rob Holland's counterweight accident et al). But I remain open to evidence of rudder jam, and thus open to stand corrected. Jam at the rudder pedals? Plausible, and we quickly spiral into space aliens. Digressing.
 
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hindsight2020 said:
Yes, halo effect is real, so I also concede my inclination to not believe that an experienced aerobatic and time-in-type pilot would have the outsized lapse in situational awareness as to not check and move the rudder trim back to neutral, or full right with a failure of the right cable. I also temper my own affinity for aerobatic cognitive spatial-energy awareness with the recognition I'm not gonna be my best self at 81 compared to 41.
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It is possible that his son was on the controls for takeoff. While not a novice pilot, he was nowhere near as accomplished as Bob.
 
I could definitely see a mechanic running rudder trim full travel to lubricate or check trim cable or pulley.
 
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