N661SP

On December 10, 2014, about 1440 central standard time, a Cessna 182S, N661SP, had a flap malfunction that interfered with the aileron near Springfield, Illinois. The commercial pilots were not injured and the airplane had minor damage. The airplane was registered to and operated by the Illinois State Police, Springfield, Illinois, as a public use airplane flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight.According to a statement provide by the Illinois State Police, the pilots were performing a proficiency check for one of the pilots. While demonstrating slow flight recovery procedures, the airplane was configured with flaps fully extended. During the recovery procedure, power was added to the airplane and pilot began retracting the flaps. As the airplane passed through about 80 knots indicated airspeed and the flaps were retracted from 10 degrees to fully retracted, the pilot felt the yoke being pushed to the right. The pilot ensured that the other pilot was not also on the controls and confirmed that the autopilot was off. As more control authority was needed to maintain level flight, both pilot heard a popping sound and the uncommanded right yoke control ceased. The pilot assessed the airplane and noted that the right flap was buckled. They performed a precautionary landing without incident.

A postaccident inspection of the airplane found that the inboard portion of the right flap had become dislodged from its track and the flap had shifted outboard and had contacted the aileron. Further examination of the flap system found cracks in both inboard and outboard brackets surrounding the inboard flap track, with the inboard bracket being completely fractured. Both brackets had been bent downwards. Paint abrasions were found on the brackets consistent with contact from the flap roller support arm. At a time prior to the accident, doubler patches had been added to the lower trailing edge skin in order to repairs cracks in the area where rivets were attached. These doublers flattened the curve of the lower trailing edge skin. A review of other agency maintained airplane found similar discrepancies with regards the curvature of the lower trailing edge skin and bracket damage.