- Date
- May 12, 1982, 18:54 local (22:54 UTC)
- Place
- Ft. Myer, FL
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N721JGates Learjet 24B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 12, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- FAA report
- 19820512022999I
- Case key
- 71954
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
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
While climbing to a cruise altitude of 41000 feet, the pilot engaged the autopilot at approximately 29500 feet. The aircraft started to pitch nose down several seconds later. The pitch trim switch was turned off and the circuit breakers pulled. The pilots were aided by a passenger and used all their strength to pull back on the control wheel to keep the aircraft from continuing to pitch nosedown. The aircraft landed safely. Examination of auto- pilot revealed that an overvoltage condition existed that was driving the stab trim actuator to the airplane nose down position. In addition, this caused the autopilot effort indicator to show a maximum nose down deflection. According to the copilot's statement, the effort indicator was at maximum deflection during the pre-takeoff check.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N721J
- Reported as
- Gates Learjet 24B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24B-200
- Airframe hours
- 5,056
- Engine
- Gen.Electric GE610-4, 2,850 lbs thrust, turbo jet
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Delaware Victor Air Service
- Registered owner
- Delaware Victor Air Service
- Departed
- AI · Pbi
- Destination
- AI · Iah
- Flight plan
- IFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 37
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 7,800 total · 1,200 in this make and model · 74 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 5° at 1 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 46 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.