ERA15LA360 · J. Schilling S-19
J. Schilling S-19 · Accident: flight control system malfunction/failure during landing
From Spadaro Airport (1N2) to Falmouth Airpark (5B6)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA15LA360
- 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
J. Schilling S-19
- Aircraft type
- J Schilling S-19
- 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
- N8DV
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Spadaro Airport (1N2), East Moriches, NYTo Falmouth Airpark (5B6), East Falmouth, MA
- Aircraft age
- About 2 years (built 2013)
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- 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 landing flare, the experimental, amateur-built airplane "ballooned." He then relaxed back pressure on the control stick to correct; however, the airplane then struck the runway hard and departed the left side.
Examination of the wreckage revealed that the stabilator trim tab (antiservo tab) push-pull tube's threaded end had separated from its connection, that the associated nut remained loose on the threads, and that the three end threads were stripped. Further examination revealed that only three of the threads in the push-pull tube's threaded end were engaged in the trim tab connection and that about 1 inch of the threaded portion of the push-pull tube was exposed and visible on the opposite side of the securing plain nut. The kit manufacturer's assembly manual cautioned that a minimum of ten threads must be engaged to secure the stabilator trim tab push-pull connection. The manual also stated that about 0.5 inch of the threaded end of the push-pull tube should be exposed and visible on the opposite side of the securing plain nut.
The builder assembled the airplane from a kit, and it was issued a special airworthiness certificate about 20 months before the accident. The pilot purchased the airplane from the builder about 5 months before the accident. At the time of the accident, the airplane had accumulated 94.5 total flight hours. The pilot performed the last condition inspection about 4 months before the accident, which was 32.8 total flight hours before the accident. The excessive thread exposure on the opposite side of the securing plain nut would have been detectable during the most recent condition inspection; however, the pilot/owner failed to detect the excessive thread exposure during the inspection.
Probable cause
The experimental airplane builder's failure to properly secure the stabilator trim tab push-pull tube’s connection, which resulted in the tube’s separation and a subsequent hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot/owner's failure to detect the improperly secured connection during a recent condition inspection.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA15LA360
- Event ID
- 20150917X10446
- Case number
- ERA15LA360
- 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: 481230c146bba9575fc8874c525f682c008068f3028e4c4df926b71dbafbc68b; retrieved 2026-09-16T02:46:59.180Z.