- Date
- October 2, 2022, 10:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Murray, KY
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N3005EAeronca 7AC
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Flight control sys malf/fail
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20221002016439A
- Case key
- 106053
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The incorrect (reverse) rigging of the elevator cables by maintenance personnel and their subsequent failure to verify that the rigging was correct during post-maintenance checks and the pilot's inadequate preflight check.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The airplane had been in maintenance for repair work on the airplane’s tail section. On the first flight after the completed work, following a preflight inspection and engine run-up, the pilot taxied the airplane to the runway for departure. During the takeoff roll, when the pilot applied forward stick controls to raise the tail, the tail did not rise, and the airplane instead “shot straight up, stalled, then descended nose-first onto the runway.” Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the fuselage. The inspector also noted that the elevator control cables were installed incorrectly such that the elevator moved in the direction opposite to that commanded.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3005E
- Reported as
- Aeronca 7AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-6591
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 3,363
- Engine
- Cont Motor C85-12F, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 15, 2021 · 1 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- CEY · Kyle-Oakley Fld, runway 5, 6,200 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- Age
- 69
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 23, 2021
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 2,900 total · 125 in this make and model · 2,740 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 13 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- CEY
- METAR
- KCEY 021735Z AUTO 35013G20KT 10SM CLR 23/03 A3019 RMK AO1
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 11, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.