Cessna 208B N125AR

Summary

On 3 February 2004 at about 20:00 local time, a Cessna 208B registered N125AR, operated by Rushton Air, was involved in an incident near Auburn, Alabama, United States. 2 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

3 February 2004 at 20:00

Classification

Incident

Location

Auburn, Alabama, United States

Nearest airport

Auburn - Opelika (AUO)

Coordinates

32.6167, -85.4333

Aircraft

Cessna 208B

Registration

N125AR

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Rushton Air

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Columbus → Auburn

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL04IA073

Nobody was injured.

The fatigue fracture of the wire rope portion on the rudder control cable assembly due to improper installation and inadequate procedures by the aircraft manufacturer.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the flight crew, during the takeoff roll the co-pilot noticed that the right rudder and trim controls were not responding. During the flight they began to diagnose the problem. The pilot continued the flight and made an uneventfully landing. During the post-landing examination of the airplane, the right rudder cable was found broken. Examination of the rudder cable by the NTSB Materials Laboratory found that the wire rope portion of the cable was fractured just inside the clevis fitting at the forward end of the cable. The fracture of the wire rope portion on the control cable assembly was the result of fatigue cracking that initiated because of the introduction of bending loads due to the over-torque of the clevis bolt during the manufacturing process.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.