Cessna Citation X Captain reported a pitch trim failure and jammed stabilizer at cruise altitude.

2024-06 · NASA ASRS report 2134745

Date: 2024-06 · Aircraft: Citation X (C750) · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

Cessna Citation X Captain reported a pitch trim failure and jammed stabilizer at cruise altitude.

Narrative

On day 0; we were in flight at the cruise phase about to start our descent towards ZZZ airport when we experienced the pitch primary trim runaway; we got the following CAS messages: PRIM STAB TRIM FAIL; MACH TRIM OFF; FGC B FAIL; YD FAIL LOWER A; the autopilot instantly disconnected and I immediately reverted to fly the plane manually. Meanwhile; we began the descent.The SECONDARY TRIM switch in the ON position did not work; which made it impossible for us to trim it; this situation led us to the following procedure JAMMED STABILIZER TRIM SYSTEM. After some radar vectors in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) we flew directly to join the traffic pattern base leg and then to final for a visual approach runway XX into ZZZ. Already on short final it was difficult for me to control the plane's pitching down to the runway due to the lack of elevator authority; so; we decided to Go-Around; I turned to the right to gain some more room due to the required greater airspeed and larger turning radius; since we were in a valley with limited space due to its topography; we carried out a left traffic pattern for runway XX where we landed without any other eventuality; the weather conditions were; visibility 10 SM; runway surface condition dry and wind calm.

NASA callback

Reporter stated no further information available; aircraft is grounded while maintenance works to determine the issue.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.