What happened
On January 16, 2025, at approximately 1700 CST, an American Champion Aircraft 7ECA, registration N798L, sustained substantial damage near Longview, Texas. The aircraft was being operated by LeTourneau University as part of a 14 CFR Part 141 instructional flight.
Earlier that day, a flight instructor and student pilot completed a series of instructional maneuvers, including soft field landings at Kilgore Airport (4TX6) and Gladewater Municipal Airport (07F), before returning to East Texas Regional Airport (GGG). Following the conclusion of that flight, a second flight instructor and student pilot performed a preflight inspection on the aircraft. During this inspection, the crew discovered that the lower hinge for the rudder had fractured from the vertical spar tube. While the hardware for the lower rudder hinge remained intact and secured, the failure resulted in substantial damage to the aircraft.
The flight crew involved in the second flight were not injured.
The investigation
Following the discovery, the operator grounded its entire fleet to conduct inspections of the upper and lower rudder hinges. These inspections included the use of a 10x magnifying glass and dye penetrant testing; no other fractures were found in the remaining fleet. The fractured rudder and hinge components were sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for examination.
Records indicate the aircraft, a Citabria, had accumulated 8,512.6 hours since its manufacture in 2005. The most recent 100-hour inspection had been completed on November 12, 2024, with 59.4 hours flown since that service. The operator noted that the rudder had undergone two previous repairs.
Findings
As a result of the incident, the operator implemented new maintenance protocols for its fleet. This includes a requirement to remove the rudder at every 100-hour inspection for visual inspection with a 10x magnifying glass, as well as a mandatory dye penetrant inspection of the upper and lower rudder hinges every 300 hours.