- Date
- June 20, 1989, 13:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Palmer, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N41755De Havilland DHC-3
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19890620057679I
- Case key
- 5131
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
Inadequate lubrication which resulted in the failure of the horizontal stabilizer's trim actuator.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The airplane pitched abruptly nose down following an inflight failure of the horizontal stabilizer's trim actuator jack screw. The crew was able to maintain control of the airplane and make a successful landing by exerting a large amount of back pressure on the control wheel and adding nearly full engine power. An examination of the actuator revealed an inadequate amount of lubricating grease and excessive part wear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41755
- Reported as
- De Havilland DHC-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 339
- Airframe hours
- 9,750
- Engine
- P&W R-1340, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Woods Air Service
- Registered owner
- Woods, Warren G
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 15, 1989
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- PAQ · Palmer
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 100 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N41755 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.