NYC03LA175

The owner/mechanic overhauled the engine and gave the airplane an annual inspection. He took off on the first flight after the maintenance and when the airplane was on final approach, as he added the last notch of flaps, heard a sound which he described as a "ping." When he retarded the throttle shortly there after, he was unable to arrest its descent, and the airplane dove to the ground and nosed over. An FAA inspector reported that when he exercised the up elevator movement was intermittently restricted by a radio rack. The radio rack was tight in place and there was no evidence that it had shifted or was loose. Further, the up elevator movement was half of that specified for the airplane, and the down elevator movement was 150 percent of that specified.

On July 31, 2003, about 1605 eastern daylight time, a Stinson 108, N97168, was substantially damaged while landing at White Post Airport, White Post, Virginia. The certificated commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The pilot owned the airplane, and held a mechanic's certificate with airframe and powerplant ratings. In addition, he held "Inspection Authorization" on his mechanic's certificate. The pilot stated he had just completed an annual inspection of the airplane, and also overhauled the engine. The accident flight was the first flight following the maintenance.

The pilot stated:

"Departed 3VA7 at 1600 EDT. A/C flew normally, flew one LH pattern, at about 1605 EDT, making normal approach at 75 mph, added full flaps and heard a "ting" noise. When about 12-15 feet above runway, chopped power and A/C immediately dove at runway - no up elevator. A/C hit runway at approx 65 - 70 mph and flipped upside down."

An inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration examined the airplane. The vertical stabilizer was crushed, and the right wing strut was bent. In addition, the trusses adjacent to the right main cabin door were bent and broken. When the control yoke was exercised through its full range of motion, sometimes it would contacted the side of the radio rack, which restricted its rearward motion. However contact was not made every time the yoke was moved. The radio rack appeared tight and there was no evidence that it had shifted, or was loose.

Measurements were taken with a protractor revealed the up elevator movement was 12 degrees, and the down movement was 33 degrees. According to the type certificate data sheet, the elevator movement allowed was 20 degrees down for all flap configuration. The elevator up movement was 17 degrees for flaps up, or 25.5 degrees with flaps extended.