Boeing 737-700 N615AS

Summary

On 10 October 2001 at about 23:27 local time, a Boeing 737-700 registered N615AS was involved in an incident near Santa Ana, California, United States. 87 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 October 2001 at 23:27

Classification

Incident

Location

Santa Ana, California, United States

Coordinates

34.0000, -118.0000

Aircraft

Boeing 737-700

Registration

N615AS

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Ana → Seattle

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02IA002

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the stabilizer electric trim motor as a result of internal mechanical seizure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight crew experienced a jammed horizontal stabilizer trim actuator during the takeoff initial climb. The pilot reported that after takeoff, during climb out, the "STAB OUT OF TRIM" annunciator light illuminated. The crew disengaged the autopilot and found the electric trim control inoperative at both the pilot and co-pilot positions, and the manual trim control was jammed and immovable. The crew leveled the airplane at 13,000 feet and accomplished the "Stabilizer Out of Trim" and "Jammed Stabilizer" checklists to no avail. The crew declared an emergency with air traffic control, and made an otherwise uneventful landing at Los Angeles. According to the pilot, the trim manual control was jammed and immobile. Post flight examination revealed the horizontal stabilizer trim actuator motor was seized. The actuator motor was subsequently replaced with a serviceable unit, and the aircraft was ferried to Seattle for inspection. No other faults were found in the pitch trim system and the airplane was returned to service. Further examination of the actuator motor revealed that the motor was mechanically seized. According to a representative of Boeing Aircraft Company, with the motor seized, in order to manually trim the stabilizer, it would have been necessary for the flight crew to exert sufficient force on the trim wheel to cause the motor clutch to slip in addition to the force necessary to overcome normal system friction.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.