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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Trim Runaway Suspected in Organ Transplant Mission Crash...

A phenomenom called "trim runaway" could be the cause of the crash of a Cessna Citation II 550 similar to the one below, in lake Michigan on Monday. An out of trim airplane can be very difficult if not impossible to control. I found at least one NTSB report involving a trim runaway accident on a Cessna Citation I Model 525. Read it here.



Here's a google search if you want to learn more about trim runaway.

[Link Me] to learn more...

3 comments:

  1. Dude, that sucks on wheels. Must be terrifying to realize the plane keeps pushing down no matter how bad you are pulling up, and seeing the ground quickly approaching.

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  2. I wonder if those planes have a system to warn the pilot if the plane is out of trim before take-off. I remember on the small cessnas I used to fly it was a checklist item for both take-off and landing but no warning system.

    One time it happened to me on landing. I had my nose down and when I tried to pull up to arrest my descent I felt the Yoke extremely heavy. I soon realized I had too much nose down (cruise) trim still on. I had plenty of altitude and realized quickly that's what it was and corrected it. I followed the checklist religiously after that. Sometimes you get complacent because you have done it so many times before.

    In this case however, it looks like it could have been a mechanical/electrical issue.

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  3. It looks like not only the trim was set when it was not supposed to, but it also keeps moving slowly in the wrong direction, so the pilot would have had to constantly adjust(at least until the trim would hit the absolute maximum) in order to maintain level flight.

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