NTSB Factual Report

On April 6, 2005, about 1610 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182S, N9521F, was substantially damaged during takeoff from the Allegheny County Airport, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. The certificated private pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the personal flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The airplane was departing from runway 28, a 6,501-foot-long, 150-foot-wide, asphalt runway.

According to her written statement, the pilot reported that the initial takeoff roll was normal. She felt a "jerk" in the control yoke when the airplane was at an airspeed of about 65 knots; shortly thereafter, she began to pull the control yoke back. The pilot further stated:

"The aircraft began to lift and I tried to continue to pull back to become airborne, but found the yoke very difficult to move. The yoke felt extremely heavy and stiff. At this time I took my right hand off of the throttle and tried with both hands to pull the yoke back. The aircraft would not remain airborne so I aborted the takeoff by pulling the throttle back and attempting to maintain control of the aircraft. The rudder pedals were unresponsive and I noted that the aircraft was in a nose down position sliding on the runway...."

The airplane slid off the left side of the runway, and came to rest on a grass area.

A flight instructor who witnessed the accident reported that he observed the airplane bounce twice. After the second bounce, the airplane was about 6 feet above the runway, and then descended at a steep nose down angle. The airplane contacted the runway, the nose gear collapsed, and the airplane slid to a stop.

Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector did not reveal any mechanical malfunctions. The airplane's nose gear assembly was crushed into the lower engine cowling. The engine assembly was broken from it's mounts, and the firewall was pushed aft toward the cockpit. The trim cable chain was separated; however, the trim cable was properly oriented and the trim tab moved appropriately when the respective trim cable was pulled by hand. Due to impact damage and the separated trim cable chain, the airplane's pitch trim setting during the takeoff could not be confirmed.

The airplane had been operated for about 50 hours, since its most recent 100-hour inspection, which was performed on January 11, 2005. Two FAA inspectors reported that they flew the accident airplane on a proficiency flight, about one week prior to the accident. They noted that the nose gear strut appeared to be at the minimum clearance and they experienced some minor nose gear shimmy during takeoff and landing. The inspectors reported that they did not experience any pitch trim problems, and noted that all pitch forces for all conditions of flight were normal.

The pilot reported 190 hours of total flight experience, which included 27 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane.

Winds reported at the airport, at 1553, were from 260 degrees at 8 knots, gusting to 20 knots.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during the takeoff. A factor in this accident was the gusty wind conditions.