What happened
On 23 August 2004, a Piper PA-34-200T Seneca II, registration G-BRXO, was involved in an incident during a private flight departing from Stapleford Airfield, Essex. The pilot had arrived at the airfield earlier that morning to facilitate repairs to the aircraft's autopilot system. Following the completion of the work, which involved the removal of the autopilot computer, the pilot commenced the return flight to his home base.
During the takeoff roll on Runway 22, which consists of both asphalt and grass, the aircraft encountered a 15-knot crosswind from the right. Once airborne, the pilot struggled to maintain a nose-up attitude. Attempts to correct the pitch using the electric elevator trim system were unsuccessful. Due to the difficulty in controlling the aircraft's attitude, the pilot elected to abort the takeoff. The aircraft subsequently landed heavily on the grass portion of the runway, causing the left propeller to contact the ground. There were no injuries to the pilot, though the aircraft sustained damage to the left wing, propeller, and engine shock-loading, with potential damage to the landing gear.
The investigation
Investigators examined the aircraft's configuration following the event and discovered that the elevator trim was set to the full nose-down position. Furthermore, the circuit breaker for the electric trim system had been pulled. The investigation established that the pilot had not verified the trim setting prior to departure, operating under the assumption that the controls had remained undisturbed during the autopilot maintenance. While the pilot noted that engineers should have notified him of the pulled circuit breaker and reset the trim, the investigation focused on the failure to perform necessary pre-flight checks.