(November 2011) Control Malfunctions — failures of the control systems to work properly — are among the most challenging and frightening difficulties that an airplane can present. One feels able to deal with almost any eventuality, as long as the flight controls work the way they should. But an aileron jammed in a hard-over position, an engine that has come disconnected from its throttle or an elevator from its push rod, a stuck fuel valve — these are the stuff that nightmares can be made of.
Two fatal accidents illustrate the range of forms that loss of control can take. In one, the pilot of a Citation 550 found the airplane fighting him in a way he could not understand; in another, the pilot of a Pilatus PC-12 allowed one wing to fill with fuel while the other emptied, and then could not manage the huge fuel imbalance as he maneuvered to land.
