At 12:06 Pacific time, a Cessna 177 crashed immediately after liftoff from runway 13L at King County International Airport. The pilot was not injured but his passenger received minor injuries. The pilot said the aircraft started rolling to the left after liftoff and he applied right aileron, but that resulted in the roll to the left becoming accelerated. As the aircraft approached 80 degrees of bank, the left wing struck the ground and the aircraft cartwheeled. The flight was the first following wing replacement and the aileron cables had been connected backwards. The pilot said he had performed a pre-takeoff check of the aileron movement but did not realize that they had deflected in a direction opposite to his inputs.
April 21, Seattle, Wash. / Cessna Cardinal
At 12:06 Pacific time, a Cessna 177 crashed immediately after liftoff from runway 13L at King County International Airport. The pilot was not injured but his passenger received minor injuries. The pilot said the aircraft started rolling to the left after liftoff and he applied right aileron, but that resulted in the roll to the left becoming accelerated. As the aircraft approached 80 degrees of bank, the left wing struck the ground and the aircraft cartwheeled. The flight was the first following wing replacement and the aileron cables had been connected backwards. The pilot said he had performed a pre-takeoff check of the aileron movement but did not realize that they had deflected in a dire...
Key Takeaways:
- A Cessna 177 crashed shortly after liftoff from King County International Airport, resulting in minor injuries to the passenger.
- The aircraft unexpectedly rolled left, and the pilot's corrective aileron input exacerbated the roll due to reversed cable connections.
- The cause of the crash was identified as aileron cables being connected backwards following a recent wing replacement.
- Although the pilot performed a pre-takeoff check, they did not realize the ailerons were deflecting opposite to their control inputs.
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