On September 9, 2001, a Cessna P206B (registration N146A) was involved in an aviation accident near Willits, CA. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: the failure of the pilot to reset the elevator trim tab during the go-around, which resulted in his failure to maintain airspeed and an inadvertent stall. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive.
A private pilot lost control of an airplane during a go-around after a bounced landing in a crosswind. The aircraft drifted right, pitched nose-high, then the right wing dropped and struck trees east of the runway.
Accident Sequence
The airplane was landing to the north with a crosswind from the right. During touchdown, the airplane bounced and drifted to the right side of the runway. The pilot initiated a go-around by applying power and raising the nose to a pitch-up attitude. Subsequently, the right wing dropped to a 90-degree angle, and the airplane impacted trees located to the east of the runway.
Aircraft Condition
Post-accident examination revealed the flaps were set at 22 degrees, and the elevator pitch trim tab was found at 5 degrees tab down (nose up), which is near the nose-up limit stop. No mechanical anomalies were identified that would have affected normal flight operations.
Pilot Information
The private pilot had accumulated a total of 312 flight hours, of which 100 hours were in the same make and model as the accident airplane.
