Event Description
During the takeoff roll, the nose of the airplane lifted off the ground prematurely. The pilot attempted to correct this by applying nose-down electric elevator trim, but received no response. The airplane climbed to approximately 50 feet above the ground, and the pilot was unable to lower the nose. Consequently, the pilot elected to abort the takeoff. The airplane then landed hard on the runway, veered to the right, departed the runway, and struck three taxiway lights and a taxiway sign.
Examination Findings
Examination of the airplane's electric elevator trim indicator revealed that it had malfunctioned due to a guide/lodging pin that was binding, causing the indicator to disconnect from its track. As a result, the indicator was reading full nose down while the elevator trim tab was actually in the full nose up position.