Accident Sequence
The captain, serving as the pilot flying, initiated the takeoff roll with normal acceleration. According to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript, the first officer made the V1 and rotate callouts. The captain reported in a postaccident interview that when he pulled back on the control column to rotate, nothing happened; the column felt like it "was in concrete" and "frozen." The CVR captured the first officer's V2 callout, followed by the captain saying "come on" in a strained voice. Both pilots recalled that they attempted to pull back on the controls, but the airplane did not rotate. Subsequently, the first officer called "abort," pulled the thrust levers to idle, and applied the brakes, while the captain deployed the thrust reversers.
The airplane overran the departure end of the runway, continued through the airport perimeter fence and across a road, striking electrical distribution lines and trees before coming to rest in a pasture, where a postcrash fire ensued. The pilots, two additional crewmembers, and all passengers evacuated the airplane. Two passengers received serious injuries, and one received a minor injury. The airplane was totally destroyed by the postcrash fire.
Investigation Findings
The investigation determined that both elevators were in a jammed condition. This jammed state resulted from exposure to localized, dynamic high wind while the airplane was parked. The jammed elevators prevented the airplane from rotating during the takeoff roll.
Additionally, the investigation found that Everts Air Cargo, the pilots' primary employer, failed to maintain awareness of Boeing-issued, required updates for its manuals. This failure resulted in the pilots not receiving the procedures and training that addressed the requirement to visually verify during preflight checks that the elevators are not jammed.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause is stated as: The jammed condition of both elevators, which resulted from exposure to localized, dynamic high wind while the airplane was parked and prevented the airplane from rotating during the takeoff roll. Also causal was the failure of Everts Air Cargo, the pilots' primary employer, to maintain awareness of Boeing-issued, required updates for its manuals, which resulted in the pilots not receiving the procedures and training that addressed the requirement to visually verify during the preflight checks that the elevators are not jammed.