Incident Overview
During the process of replacing one side of the elevator, maintenance personnel placed washers under the heads of the bolts used to attach the inboard portion of the elevator drive torque tube to the outboard portion of the tube. This installation was not called for in the service documentation. As a result, the clearance between the bolt heads and the elevator structure was reduced. Under the flight loads generated during the takeoff roll elevator test, elevator binding occurred. Due to this binding, the takeoff was aborted.
Maintenance Findings
A subsequent investigation determined that washers had been placed under the bolt heads during a previous installation of the elevator. The mechanics performing the current replacement simply copied what they observed while removing the old elevator. After the incident, maintenance personnel consulted the Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) for the aircraft. The IPC clearly indicated that no washers were to be used in that installation. Additionally, they inspected the installation of the elevator on the other side of the aircraft and discovered that it had been installed correctly, with no washers under the bolt heads.
Cause
The direct cause of the elevator binding was the presence of washers under the bolt heads, which reduced clearance and caused interference under load. The practice of copying the previous installation, which had itself been incorrect, led to the recurrence of the error.