CEN14LA456 · Maule MT 7-235
S & J Aviation Maule MT 7-235 · Accident during initial climb
From Edon, OH (private airstrip) to Edon, OH (private airstrip)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN14LA456
- 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
- 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
Maule MT 7-235
- Aircraft type
- Maule MT-7
- 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
- N627RK
- Operator
- S & J Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Edon, OH (private airstrip)To Edon, OH (private airstrip)
- Aircraft age
- About 16 years (built 1998)
- 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
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, during the takeoff, the airplane experienced a left turning tendency, which continued until he had made full-right aileron and rudder inputs. The pilot decided to execute a precautionary landing in a nearby field. As the pilot initiated a descent and the airspeed increased, the left turn steepened despite the full control inputs. The airplane subsequently impacted trees along the edge of the field. A postaccident examination did not reveal any anomalies with the flight control system, and the rudder trim tab was found deflected to the right. The cockpit rudder trim control was positioned consistent with the observed trim tab deflection. Right trim tab deflection causes a left rudder control surface deflection in flight and was consistent with the left turning tendency reported by the pilot.
Probable cause
The pilot’s inability to maintain airplane control while attempting a precautionary landing after takeoff due to his incorrect setting of the rudder trim tab, which resulted in a significant turning tendency during flight.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN14LA456
- Event ID
- 20140827X34303
- Case number
- CEN14LA456
- 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, coordinates. 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: 66288c88f99ce200bc4b23ea1b8b7d5d7439a9eb305b149ec4e16fc3b6cea8bc; retrieved 2026-09-16T01:41:11.766Z.