Accidents & Incidents

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On October 16, 2003, at 0805 eastern daylight time, a Beech 1900D, N850CA, operated by CommutAir as Continental Connection flight 8718, was not damaged during an aborted takeoff at Albany International Airport (ALB), Albany, New York. The certificated airline transport pilot and certificated commercial pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the planned flight to Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, New York. An instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the positioning flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

According to the Director of Safety at CommutAir, the captain initiated a takeoff roll on runway 19 at ALB. As the airplane accelerated to approximately 115 knots, about V1, the captain noted that the elevator control was jammed. He subsequently aborted the takeoff and taxied back to the ramp uneventfully.

The airplane was examined at CommutAir's maintenance facility after the incident. The examination revealed that when the elevator trim wheel in the cockpit was positioned to neutral, the elevator trim was actually in a nose-down position.

A mechanic performed maintenance on the airplane one day prior to the incident, and the incident flight was the first flight after the maintenance. The mechanic stated that part of the maintenance performed on the airplane included removal and replacement of a throttle pin. To accomplish that procedure, the mechanic had removed the elevator trim wheel. However, he did not index the elevator trim wheel before removing it, and reinstalled it incorrectly.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20031023X01801&key=1