Gojet CRJ7 near Kansas City on Apr 18th 2010, control anomaly

Last Update: October 5, 2012 / 10:39:23 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 18, 2010

Classification
Incident

Airline
GoJet Airlines

Aircraft Type
Canadair CRJ-700

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ7

The NTSB released their factual report reporting that the aircraft had departed Oklahoma City in heavy rain and was climbing towards FL350, the ambient temperature dropped below 32 degrees F (0C). About 20 minutes into the flight the crew noticed that the autopilot did not turn the aircraft onto the heading to the next waypoint properly, an indication of excessive aileron forces appeared. The crew disengaged the autopilot and attempted to manually control the aircraft, the aileron forces however remained excessive. The crew therefore attempted to disconnect left and right aileron controls, however with the left yoke controlling just the left aileron and the right yoke controlling just the right aileron there was no improvement with excessive control forces needed to get minimal response from the ailerons. The crew decided to divert to Kansas City.

During the descent through FL150 the ailerons broke free and responded again normally to normal control forces. The aircraft landed safely in Kansas City.

Maintenance was not able to detect any anomaly with the aileron control system.

The NTSB reported data off the flight data recorder confirmed binding of the ailerons, which only minimally responded to 25lbs inputs at the controls. Even after the left and right aileron control systems were separated both aileron controls remained bound. During the descent through about FL200 a control force of 34lbs over a period of 6 seconds was recorded for the left aileron, which broke that aileron free. The ambient temperature climbed through 32F (0C) shortly afterwards, the remainder of the flight was flown on the left control wheel.

On Oct 5th 2012 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause was:

The malfunction of the airplaneÂ’s aileron control system due to ice accumulation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 18, 2010

Classification
Incident

Airline
GoJet Airlines

Aircraft Type
Canadair CRJ-700

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ7

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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