CE560XL; THE FLAPS WERE NOT FULLY RETRACTED; PREVENTING HIGH SPD TAIL TRANSITION AND LOSS OF LONGITUDINAL CTL. AN NMAC AT CRUISE ALT OCCURRED.

Narrative

AFTER LEVELING OFF AT FL280; AND WITH THE AUTOPLT ENGAGED; I RECEIVED AN AUTOPLT OUT OF AUTOPLT TRIM LIGHT. I DISCONNECTED THE AUTOPLT WHILE HAVING A VERY GOOD GRIP ON THE YOKE AND THE ACFT STARTED A RAPID ASCENT THAT I COULDN'T COUNTERACT. WITH THE YOKE PUSHED FULL FORWARD; I PULLED THE THROTTLES TO FLT IDLE AND NOTICED THE FLAP CTL LEVER NOT IN THE FULL 'UP' POS. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED FOR FULL UP ON THE FLAPS AND WAS ABLE TO GAIN POSITIVE CTL OF THE ACFT AGAIN. ALL OF THIS PROBABLY TRANSPIRED IN ABOUT 45 SECONDS TO A MIN. DURING THE EVENT; WE NOTIFIED THE CTLR THAT WE MAY HAVE TO RETURN TO PIT AS WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND INFORMED HIM OF A TRIM PROB. AS SOON AS THE FLAP SWITCH WAS MADE AND THE ACFT SLOWED BELOW 200 KTS; THE TAIL STARTED TO MOVE INTO THE HIGH SPD POS AND IT WAS APPARENT WHAT THE PROB WAS. WITH THE THROTTLES IN THE CLB POS; THEY PARTLY OBSCURE THE FLAP HANDLE POS. THE ONLY THING I CAN IMAGINE HAPPENED IS THAT WHEN I CALLED FOR FLAPS UP AFTER TKOF; THE PNF MOVED THE FLAP CTL; BUT BECAUSE OF THE TURB WE WERE EXPERIENCING; IT DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT AGAINST THE SWITCH. THE CITATION 560XLS HAS A MOVEABLE ELEVATOR FOR HIGH SPD AND LOW SPD FLT. IT TAKES ITS POS FROM THE FLAP CTL HANDLE BEING FULL UP FOR HIGH SPD. WHILE IN THE CLB I HAD NO INDICATION OF A PROB BECAUSE OF CLBING OUT AT A SLOWER SPD DUE TO THE TURB. THE FIRST TIME WE EXCEEDED 200 KTS WAS WHEN I LEVELED OFF. THE ACFT WILL NOT EXCEED THE AUTOPLT TRIM LIMITS UNTIL ACCELERATING PAST 200 KTS. THE CORRECTIVE ACTION IS TO VERIFY THAT THE TAIL IS MOVING AFTER FLAP RETRACTION BY VERIFYING THE HYD PRESSURE ANNUNCIATOR LIGHT IS ILLUMINATED. THIS PROC IS TAUGHT IN TRAINING AND OBVIOUSLY FOR GOOD REASON. WITH THE ADDED DISTR OF TURB AND WX IT SHOWS HOW EASY IT IS NOT TO NOTICE THE ABSENCE OF THE ANNUNCIATOR LIGHT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED THAT THE CESSNA 560 XLS THROTTLE QUADRANT DESIGN ALLOWS THE THROTTLE HANDLES TO BLOCK THE FLAP HANDLE AND FLAP POSITION INDICATOR. ADDITIONALLY; WHEN THE FLAP HANDLE IS IN THE FULL RETRACT POSITION; THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER HYDRAULICALLY MOVES THREE DEGREES FOR HIGH SPEED FLIGHT. ABOVE 200 KTS THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER CANNOT MOVE AND THE STAB TRIM IS FROZEN. THEREFORE IF THE FLAP HANDLE IS NOT UP; THE ACFT MUST BE SLOWED AND THE HANDLE SELECTED UP. THE ACFT IS UNCONTROLLABLE AND PITCHES UP ABOVE 200 KTS WITH THE FLAPS OUT. THE FAA SPENT TIME WITH THIS ACR AND PLT INVESTIGATING THE CONFIGURATION. THIS PLT BELIEVES A LIGHT ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL INDICATING FLAP HANDLE NOT IN THE UP POSITION AND A SPEED OF 190 KTS OR GREATER WOULD ALLOW THE CREW TO TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION BEFORE THIS SITUATION DEVELOPS. RPTR ALSO NOTED THAT A NEAR MISS OCCURRED.