Waco EQC-6 N16214

Summary

On 5 April 2006 at about 19:25 local time, a Waco EQC-6 registered N16214 was involved in an accident near Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 April 2006 at 19:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Battle Creek, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

W.K.Kellogg Airport (BTL)

Coordinates

42.3072, -85.2514

Aircraft

Waco EQC-6

Registration

N16214

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Battle Creek → Poplar Grove

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI06CA106

Nobody was injured.

The maintenance facility failed to properly install and inspect the rudder cable system resulting in the reversed rudder condition which made directional control not possible during the aborted takeoff. A contributing factor was an inadequate preflight inspection by the pilot.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The single-engine biplane sustained substantial damage during an aborted takeoff when the airplane veered sharply to the left during the takeoff roll, and the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer impacted the runway. The pilot reported that he used braking action to change direction when he taxied to the runway for takeoff. He stated that the tailwheel was locked while taxiing. The pilot reported that he could not see the rudder when he checked the flight controls prior to takeoff, and he did not have anyone verify the direction of the rudder when he moved the rudder pedals. Once on the runway he added power for takeoff, but immediately reduced power due to the lack of directional control. He reported that he aborted the takeoff before the airplane reached 30 knots airspeed. He reported the airplane "swerved suddenly and extremely sharply to the left causing the wingtips to scrape the runway." The inspection of the airplane revealed that the rudder control cables were rigged backwards. The airplane had undergone maintenance to have the original cable operated brakes replaced with hydraulic brakes. After the hydraulic brakes had been installed by the maintenance facility, the rudder cables were improperly rigged to the control surface. The maintenance facility's inspection of the hydraulic brake installation did not have a procedure in its inspection checklist that required an inspection of the rudder cable installation. The maintenance facility's inspection of the brakes did not detect the misrigged rudder cables.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.