When Airplanes Break

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 11:00 AM ET

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On The Cover: Structural failure of the airplane you're riding in can ruin your whole day. But the instructor and student aboard the AA-5 Traveler pictured managed to walk away after their tail almost fell off. They had some help from a chase plane, which identified the problem for them, but the rest of it was skill. See page 16 for more.

Key Takeaways:

During a routine flight, a CFI and student experienced a sudden, violent structural failure of their Grumman AA-5 Traveler's horizontal stabilizer and elevator, initially misdiagnosed as an engine failure.
Despite severe airframe damage and initial confusion, the CFI adapted to the situation, eventually realizing the engine was operational and managing to fly the compromised aircraft towards the airport.
The emergency landing on the runway was extremely challenging due to the inability to flare, as the damaged elevator lacked sufficient control authority at slow speeds, resulting in a violent nose-down impact and collapsed nose gear.
The incident provided critical lessons on maintaining aircraft control during emergencies, accurately assessing failures, effective emergency declarations, and the importance of consulting legal counsel before speaking with the FAA.

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I was the CFI, flying with a keen 17-year-old student in a Grumman AA-5 Traveler. As we used to say in the Air Force when describing a flying scenario, “There we were, flying along, fat, dumb and happy.” It’s just a saying, take it easy—we weren’t actually fat, but we were happy, and the student, at least, wasn’t dumb.

We were flying a straight line, direct to my home field, the Leesburg (Va.) Executive Airport (JYO), in level flight at about 1000 feet agl and 140 KIAS in smooth air. I looked at my iPad, and saw we were making over 160 knots groundspeed, and the aircraft was flying solidly, just humming along, not a vibration or noise. I remarked to the student, who was at the controls, “This thing really likes to go fast—look how stable it is.”