Warbelow'S Air Ventures Flight 911

The solo certificated commercial pilot was departing for another airport about 5 miles away. During the takeoff roll, as the airplane's airspeed approached 60 knots, the pilot applied aft control yoke pressure to rotate the nose of the airplane. When the desired pitch angle for takeoff was attained, she released the back pressure, but the yoke failed to move forward. The airplane then pitched-up uncontrollably, and she disengaged the electric trim, as she was concerned about a runaway trim condition. She regained control of the airplane, noted that she had very limited aileron and elevator range of motion available, and elected to continue straight ahead to her next scheduled stop. She added that she tried to transmit a "mayday" to other airplane’s in the area, but the radio transmit button, located on the pilot's control yoke, was now inoperative. During the short flight, she was able to adjust the altitude and airspeed by adjusting engine power. During approach to the accident airport, while using a combination of engine power, rudder, and the remaining amount of aileron control, she was able to maneuver the airplane for landing on runway 05. As the airplane passed over the approach end of the runway, she attempted to flare just before touchdown. The nose of the airplane failed to rise, and the nose wheel struck the gravel-covered runway. The nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane bounced off the right side of the runway. A postaccident examination of the control yoke mechanism, behind the instrument panel, revealed that a wiring harness had become entangled in a series of roller bearings associated with the control yoke mechanism. A subsequent inspection revealed that the accident airplane's control column did not have a required STA-Strap, part number S-2209-2, installed. The proper installation of the required STA-Strap would provide proper clearance between the wiring harness, and the control yoke roller bearings. The roller bearing assembly was disassembled, and the entangled wiring harness was removed. The correct length for the factory installed wiring harness is 49 inches. The wiring harness that was removed from the roller bearing assembly measured at 34 inches. A review of the airplane's maintenance history disclosed no maintenance activity concerning the control yoke assembly. A review of the FAA's aircraft registry database disclosed that the operator owned the airplane for about 11 years. The airplane had been added to the operator's Approved Aircraft Inspection Program (AAIP), on February 11, 2001. In order for an airplane to be initially placed on the AAIP, it must be inspected in accordance with AAIP Events1, 2, 3, and 4. According to the operator's AAIP inspection schedule, an inspection of the control wheels, columns, pulleys, and cables, for condition is required during the Event 4 inspection.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset