What happened
Following an uneventful first flight, the pilot performed a thorough ground check of the Cessna (type not specified, but implied by context) including checks of the magnetos, carburetor heat, and flight controls. After takeoff from runway 17 with full power, the aircraft reached an altitude of between 80 and 100 feet. At this height, the pilot reported that the flight controls began feeling stiff and the airplane started banking to the right. Despite applying excessive pressure to the controls to maintain level wings, the aircraft began to lose altitude. The aircraft subsequently collided with trees approximately 40 feet tall, located 1/4 mile beyond and 50 feet to the right of the departure end of runway 17. There were no fatalities reported.
The investigation
Post-accident examination of the wreckage showed that both wings were crushed aft against the fuselage and were only partially attached at the wing roots. The outboard four feet of the right wing had separated from the aircraft, and the left wing strut was crushed and separated from the fuselage and wing. Additionally, the left main landing gear had separated from the fuselage.
While manual testing showed full rudder travel and full elevator travel, moving the control stick laterally revealed binding in the control travel accompanied by a clicking sound behind the rear seat. During the recovery of the wreckage, investigators discovered that the right aileron control cable had slipped off its pulley and was wedged between the pulley and the bracket where the cable exits the fuselage to enter the right wing. The aircraft had accumulated only 12 hours of flight time since its last annual inspection, which was completed on October 1, 2003.