Pilot and maintenance failures combined to create a dramatic turboprop incident that became a criminal case. John Goglia and Greg Feith explore the incident with a Piaggio aircraft that lost an elevator on the first flight of the day and continued with operations.

The air taxi flight crew landed and flew to next airport without performing a preflight inspection. John and Greg talk about the indications the pilots could have detected to recognize problems even if they could not visually inspect the elevators.

John cites the NTSB investigation of the 2000 crash of an Emery Worldwide Airlines DC-8 as an example of how a pilot may be able to feel the difference in the control response when a flight control surface fails.

The investigation found that maintenance done in response to mandatory AD 28 days before this incident had not been done properly. The nuts holding the elevators in pace were not torqued properly. The plane flew 128 hours with loose hardware.

Adding to this incident, the head of maintenance of the charter company operating the plane took steps to hide evidence from the NTSB and FAA. A criminal investigation led to a fine that put the company out of business and a conviction for the head of maintenance.

Related documents are available at the Flight Safety Detectives website.

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