Accident Details
On 17 May 2017 at approximately 1125 UTC, an Aerotechnik EV-97 Eurostar, registration G-TIVV, was involved in an accident during takeoff from an airstrip at Yarrow Valley, Scottish Borders. The aircraft was being operated on a private flight with one pilot and one passenger on board. Neither occupant sustained any injuries. The aircraft sustained damage to its nose landing gear, propeller, and lower fuselage panels.
Aircraft Information
The aircraft, an Aerotechnik EV-97 Eurostar, was manufactured in 2005 and equipped with a single Rotax 912-UL piston engine. The pilot held a National Private Pilot’s Licence and was 67 years old at the time of the accident. The pilot had accumulated 444 total flying hours, of which 112 were on type, with 6 hours in the last 90 days and 3 hours in the last 28 days.
Narrative
The pilot was taking off for a local flight with a passenger. After reaching flying speed with the wheels just off the ground, the pilot realised that he could not move the control stick rearwards as usual. Consequently, the aircraft was not climbing away from the surface, and the pilot aborted the takeoff. The aircraft landed back on the airstrip but bounced and pitched up before appearing to stall and impacting the ground in a nose-down attitude. The aircraft came to rest with its nose landing gear collapsed and damage to the propeller and lower fuselage panels.
Post-accident Examination
Following the accident, the pilot examined the aircraft and found that all controls worked normally. He concluded that there may have been a restriction in the cockpit that prevented the control stick from moving rearwards normally. He noted that the passenger had been carrying a bulky camera or could have been obstructing the controls in some other way.