ANC83FAG02 · Willbird 2
Willbird 2 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From CHUGIAK, AK to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC83FAG02
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Willbird 2
- Aircraft type
- Willbird 2
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N37875
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From CHUGIAK, AKTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall; Wire, transmission; Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Flight control, stabilator attachment › Failure, total
- Manufacturer › Inadequate quality control
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AS THE AIRCRAFT LIFTED OFF, THE NOSE PITCHED UP ALARMINGLY AND APPLICATION OF FULL DOWN ELEVATOR CONTROL HAD NO APPARENT EFFECT. THE PILOT WAS ABLE TO LOWER THE NOSE BY EXTENDING FULL FLAPS. HOWEVER, HE WAS UNABLE TO LATCH THE MANUAL FLAPS IN THE DOWN POSITION AND THE EFFORTS TO HOLD THE FLAPS DOWN WAS BEYOND HIS PHYSICAL ENDURANCE. AS THE FLAPS RETRACTED, THE NOSE PITCHED UP AND THE AIRCRAFT STALLED AT ABOUT 100 FT AGL. THE AIRCRAFT THEN FELL OFF ON THE LEFT WING AND PITCHED NOSE DOWN. IT CRASHED THROUGH POWER LINES AND BIRCH TREES IN A SLIGHT NOSE, LEFT WING 40 DEG DOWN, ATTITUDE. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT A HINGE BEARING COMPONENT OF THE STABILATOR CONTROL HAD FAILED. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE STABILATOR MOVED FORWARD WHICH SLACKENED THE STABILATOR CONTROL CABLES AND RESULTED IN LOSS OF PITCH CONTROL. THE PILOT/OWNER OF THE HOMEBUILT AIRCRAFT RECOMMENDED WELDING (RATHER THAN BRAZING) HEAVILY STRESSED BEARINGS OR USE CAST, FORGED OR MACHINED PILLOW BLOCKS. THE PLANE HAD 229 HRS TOTAL FLT TIME.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC83FAG02
- Event ID
- 20001214X41908
- Case number
- ANC83FAG02
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 525e099ccd5bb0a9cf7a3f0962906f15a5918eadbb1e564ad95407ca810aad91; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:01:57.740Z.