# Incident 20120421008669I: Airbus Industrie A320-232, Tampa, FL, April 21, 2012

- Type: FAA incident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported
- Date: April 21, 2012, 15:00 local time
- Place: Tampa, FL
- Airport: Tampa International
- Damage: No damage
- Phase of flight: Cruise/Level Flight
- Operating rules: Air carrier (Part 121)
- Operator: CALA
- Location: 27.9755° N, 82.5332° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs at TAMPA INTL (TPA), within about a mile (OpenAirDocs)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=27.9755&lon=-82.5332&mi=10
- Aircraft: N418UA, a cancelled registration (https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N418UA-2025-05-13) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry model: Airbus Industrie A320-232 (registry code 3930326, https://openairdocs.org/model/airbus-industrie-a320-232) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: IAE V2500SERIES (registry code 34601, https://openairdocs.org/engine/iae-v2500series) (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-232
- Reported engine: IAE V2500SERIES
- People aboard: 6
- Fatal injuries: 0
- Other injuries: 0
- Pilot certificates: Airline transport
- Pilot flight hours: 8,430 total, 714 in this make and model, 67 in the last 90 days
- FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/)
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/20120421008669I

## Narrative

As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^.

FLIGHT 6866-21 WAS APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR INTO TEST FLIGHT WHEN THE FLIGHT CREW NOTICED THAT NEITHER AUTOPILOTS (1 & 2) WOULD STAY ENGAGED. WHEN THE AUTOPILOT WOULD ATTEMPT TO ADJUST PITCH IT WOULD DISENGAGE. THE CREW BEGAN TO GET FAULT INDICATIONS ON THE ELECTRONIC CENTRALIZED AIRCRAFT MONITOR (ECAM) RELATED TO ELEVATOR AND AILERON COMPUTOR (ELAC) #1 AND ELAC #2. THE FLIGHT CREW COMPLETED THE CHECKS THAT WERE ABLE TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE CURRENT CONDITION OF THE AIRCRAFT AND NOTICED THAT THE PITCH TRIM WOULD NOT ALLOW THEM TO TRIM NOSE UP. AS THEY LINED THE AIRCRAFT UP FOR FINAL APPROACH THEY NOTED THAT THE PITCH TRIM WAS LOCKED IN THE 5 DEGREE NOSE DOWN POSITION. THE CREW DID NOT DECLARE AN EMERGENCY AND CONTINUED THE APPROACH TO A FULL STOP LANDING. NTSB WAS NOTIFIED BY THE PILOTS DUE TO THE ELAC 1 AND 2 FAULT INDICATIONS. AFTER A REVIEW OF THE INCIDENT NTSB RELEASED THE AIRCRAFT TO UNITED AIRLINES INC. TO ALLOW THEM TO PERFORM AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT A BOLT P/N NAS6704-12 HAD BECOME LODGED IN THE MECHANISM WHICH CONTROLLED THE PITCH TRIM OF THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER.

## Other reports on N418UA (1)

Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.

- [Incident 20001011026529I](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20001011026529I), Oct 11, 2000: Airbus A320232 (N418UA), Omaha, NE. (-23)United aitlines flight 178, an Airbus A-320-232, on a flight from los angeles, CA, to boston, MA, diverted into Omaha, NE, after the number two engine…

From the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. Reports are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. For accidents, the NTSB's own investigation is the fuller record.

---
OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.