N721HS

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On December 27, 2000, at 2110 central standard time, an Embraer EMB-135LR, N721HS, operating as American Eagle Airlines flight 230, encountered pitch control problems during initial climb, following takeoff from runway 32L at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois. The flight crew made two attempts to land the airplane before finally landing the airplane on the third attempt, on runway 4R at O'Hare. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. The scheduled domestic passenger flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 121. An instrument flight rules flight plan was on file from Chicago, Illinois, to La Crosse, Wisconsin. The captain, first officer, flight attendant, and 9 passengers on board the flight reported no injuries. The flight was originating at the time of the incident.

In his interview, the captain said that everything was normal up to takeoff. After conducting a thorough briefing with the first officer, the captain said they taxied into position, did the before takeoff check, and advanced the throttles. The airplane accelerated normally, rotated, and "jumped into the air. We were pretty empty, so that didn't surprise me." The captain said, at 800 feet agl (above ground level), "I called for the climb sequence checklist." The captain said that after rotation it is natural to begin to trim, but could not remember exactly when he noticed that the trim was not working. When he did realize the trim wasn't working, he said he knew he needed to bring the aircraft back. "I was having problems trimming nose down." The captain asked the first officer to check his trim switch and insure his control yoke was full forward. He said that his yoke was already full forward. The airplane was cleared to 5,000 feet msl (mean sea level). "We were holding a 3,000 to 6,000 foot rate of climb." The captain was finally able to stop the climb and level the airplane at approximately 8,000 feet. He said that at no time during the flight were they able to hold a true level flight attitude. "We were able to keep the airplane within 300 feet above and below [a particular altitude]." The captain reduced power to bring stability to the aircraft. "At that time, we had no EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) messages at all." The captain said that he had the first officer declare an emergency with Chicago Approach Control and refer to the Pitch Trim 1 and 2 Failure checklists. The captain said that the checklist states to reduce speed. He said they did that. The captain then instructed the first officer to lower flaps to 9 degrees, as specified in the checklist. The first officer was hesitant to do so, but it was in the checklist, so they tried it. "When we brought in the flaps, the aircraft pitched way nose high. We were out of control." When the captain regained control of the airplane, he had the first officer retract the flaps. The captain said that the control yoke remained in the forward position from that time until landing.

"At this time, we were northwest of Chicago. This thing (the airplane) had a mind of its own." The captain told the first officer, "let's bring the gear down." The captain said it improved the stability, slightly. The captain then had the first officer pull the pitch trim 1 and pitch trim 2 systems circuit breakers. "We recycled them, nothing happened. I then told him to pull them out again and count to 10, then reset the circuit breakers. He did. Then I checked my trim switch. He checked his [trim switch] and the back up [trim switch]; nothing worked."

The captain said that about this time, approach control asked them if they wanted to land? "I told them that I could see Chicago very well. They told me, runway 9R is available. We did the descent checklist and the approach checklist. I was lined up for an approach to [runway] 9R, but I was too high and too fast. I did a 360 [degree turn]. I was still high, about 2,000 to 2,500 feet msl. The runway was close by." The captain said that about 10 seconds after he completed the 360-degree turn, he extended the spoilers. He said that the reason he tried the spoilers was because up to that point, everything they had tried had not worked. "The airplane wanted to always pitch up. You could maintain a shallow rate of descent, but not control it. The spoilers should increase the rate of descent. I wanted to bring it (the airplane) in, in one piece. I was going to be at the end of the runway, if I didn't put them (the spoilers) out. That maneuver (extending the spoilers); the airplane pitched way up, so abrupt." The captain said he and the first officer pushed both yokes forward. He advanced the throttles, and retracted the spoilers. "That second, I banked hard left, 50 to 60 degrees as I recall, and chopped the power. It took all our abilities to get the nose down."

After they got the airplane back under control, the captain said that approach control came back and told them that runway 4R was straight ahead. The captain told the first officer, "There's the airport. I'm going to [runway] 4R." The first officer told the flight attendant to prepare for landing. The captain said he left the airplane configured as it was (landing gear down, flaps and spoilers retracted) and flew a long shallow approach. "I said to myself, God please let me land this airplane. Over the runway, I chopped the power and let it settle on the runway."

Once on the ground, the captain said, "I told the folks, we're in Chicago. We're safe. I taxied to the gate, did the parking checklist, and just sat there. The passengers got off. The aircraft was still powered up. The mechanics came on board. I was numb and angry. I guess that was it."

In his interview, the first officer said, "When we rotated, this was my first thought of a problem. We rotated very rapidly, jumped off of the ground." He said that when they were 800 feet above ground level (agl) the captain called for "flaps up ... speed 200 climb schedule ... and the climb checklist." The first officer said that was when he got the first indications from the captain that there was a problem. The first officer said he checked the trim switch on his control yoke. It didn't work. He said he immediately went to the backup switch on the center console. It didn't work either. He said the captain asked him to help him push the control column forward. "It was against the stop."

The first officer said that they were climbing in excess of 1,000 feet per minute with the control column full forward. He declared an emergency with approach control and requested to come back to the airport and land on runway 9R. The first officer said that it took slow power reductions to bring the nose of the airplane down. The first officer said that the captain had him run the "Pitch Trim Inop[erative] Checklist", which called for "Flaps 9 [degrees]". He said that when they put the flaps down the nose of the airplane began coming up again. He retracted the flaps. He said that he pulled and reset the Pitch Trim 1 and Pitch Trim 2 circuit breakers twice and then tried the trim switches again. "Nothing worked."

The first officer said that when they were 10 miles from runway 9R, they were given clearance for the approach. They put down the landing gear, which seemed to help. "It noticeably lowered the pitch attitude, so that now we were in a slight descent." The first officer said that they were still high and fast, so they performed a 360-degree turn. Following the turn and continuing inbound for runway 9R, the first officer said that the captain then tried the spoilers. "The airplane went nuts. It didn't like that. We put them in and initiated a go-around. The airplane went like a bat-out-of-hell. We were in a steep climb and bleeding [airspeed] off rapidly." The first officer said that the captain rolled the airplane into a 45 to 60 degree steep bank that brought the nose back down. The first officer said that he noticed that the stabilizer trim had moved to 8 degrees after the spoilers were deployed. He also said that it was about this time that they received warning messages that their pitch trim was inoperative.

The first officer said that they maneuvered toward runway 4R. The captain said that this was their chance to land. The first officer ran the No Flap checklist. "We were 185 knots, 2 miles out. We were probably at that speed when we touched down."

The airplane was examined at American Eagle's maintenance facility at O'Hare International Airport on December 28, 2000. An on-ground functional check of the stabilizer trim system was accomplished and showed no anomalies. An on-ground functional check of the airplane's spoiler control unit revealed that when the spoilers were given the command to retract, the unit was not sending an input to the horizontal stabilizer control unit (HSCU) to put in 1 unit of nose down stabilizer trim.

The airplane's digital flight data recorder (DFDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) were removed and sent to NTSB Headquarters, Washington, DC, for readout.

The airplane's HSCU, horizontal stab actuator (HSA), left hand trim switch, right hand trim switch, trim control module, and spoiler control unit were removed and retained for further testing.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The captain said that he had been an employee for American Eagle Airlines, Inc., since 1986. He reported becoming a captain on the EMB-135 in October 1999, and said that he had approximately 800 flying hours on Embraer EMB-135 and EMB-145 airplanes. He reported having approximately 11,500 total flying hours. Company records showed the captain completed a company line check on September 28, 2000.

The first officer said he had become an employee for American Eagle Airlines, Inc., in September 1999. He reported completing his qualification on the EMB 135 in November 2000. He es...