CEN14IA121 · Cessna 680
Cessna 680 · Incident: flight control system malfunction/failure en route
From Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) to Chicago Executive Airport (PWK)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN14IA121
- 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
- Incident
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
Cessna 680
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 680
- 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
- N531RC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), CHICAGO/PROSPECT HEIGHTS/WHEELING, ILTo Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), CHICAGO/PROSPECT HEIGHTS/WHEELING, IL
- Aircraft age
- About 8 years (built 2006)
- 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
- En route · cruise
- Defining eventThe 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
- Flight control system malfunction/failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, while climbing to 15,000 ft mean sea level, the autopilot disengaged and the autopilot disconnect chime sounded accompanied by an "AP fail A-B" message. At this point, the flight crew decided to return to the departure airport. The pilot noted that, while trying to slow the climb, "extra" force was required to push the airplane's nose down. He attempted to apply nose-down trim but felt no change and then noted that the elevator trim tab indicator was showing full nose-down trim. He subsequently landed the airplane without incident.
Following the incident, the operator tested the stabilizer trim through its full range of travel and noted no discrepancy with the system or the elevator trim tab indicator. The operator contacted the manufacturer to assist in troubleshooting the problem. They found that the connecting pin linking the drive shaft to the left elevator trim tab actuator had become dislodged, which likely caused the left elevator trim driveshaft to disconnect from the trim actuator. The operator stated that it was aware that the elevator trim tab drive shaft pin on the same make and model airplane had dislodged on two previous occasions. The manufacturer is in the process of proposing changes to the drive pin dimensions and the method of securing the pin to prevent the elevator trim tab drive pin from dislodging.
Probable cause
The disconnection of the left elevator trim driveshaft from the trim actuator due to the elevator trim tab drive pin becoming dislodged, which resulted in full nose-down elevator trim.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN14IA121
- Event ID
- 20140124X12740
- Case number
- CEN14IA121
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, damage. 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: 146466d0898afad499be497854757c5ba7d9de3fdef4894aa0269c74b7c75640; retrieved 2026-09-15T23:16:32.954Z.