CEN16CA359 · Beech 58 UNDESIGNAT
Cobra Kai Flight Academy Beech 58 UNDESIGNAT · Accident: flight control system malfunction/failure during takeoff
From Kickapoo Downtown Airport (CWC) to Kickapoo Downtown Airport (CWC)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16CA359
- 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
Beech 58 UNDESIGNAT
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 58
- 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
- N15MD
- Operator
- Cobra Kai Flight Academy
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Kickapoo Downtown Airport (CWC), Wichita Falls, TXTo Kickapoo Downtown Airport (CWC), Wichita Falls, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 42 years (built 1974)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
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 a maintenance test flight, when the airplane reached rotation speed on takeoff, he applied elevator control to rotate. The elevator control could not be moved sufficiently aft for rotation and liftoff, and the pilot aborted the takeoff. During the aborted takeoff, the airplane travelled off the departure end of the runway and came to a stop on an airport access road. The airplane's left main landing gear collapsed and the left wing was bent during the accident. The pilot reported that he had performed a control system check prior to the flight and that the controls functioned normally during that check. Examination of the airplane revealed that the elevator control operated normally after the accident, but further examination revealed that a plastic elbow fitting for the windshield defroster duct was loose and could be rotated into a position that obstructed full motion of the control yoke. Examination of the elbow revealed that it was not an approved part and appeared to be the type of plastic elbow found in home supply stores. The recent maintenance performed was not in the area where the plastic elbow was located.
Probable cause
The incorrect maintenance of the airplane's ventilation system which resulted in an obstruction of the elevator control system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN16CA359
- Event ID
- 20160907X45319
- Case number
- CEN16CA359
- 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: aee9c75dbd375b014f758c7f0fa1010dcee3f179305169d3a1f4c5bb40677077; retrieved 2026-09-16T04:14:21.335Z.