Aircraft
NTSB Reveals History of SJ30-2 Stability Issues
In the year before April 26, 2003, when Sino Swearingen’s number-one SJ30-2 prototype crashed after entering an uncommanded and unrecoverable right roll du

In the year before April 26, 2003, when Sino Swearingen’s number-one SJ30-2 prototype crashed after entering an uncommanded and unrecoverable right roll during high-speed flutter testing, company engineers were attempting to deal with lateral stability issues with the twinjet, according to the NTSB’s recently released factual report on the accident.

The lateral control history was a key focus of the NTSB report. The lateral trim system on the accident aircraft used an adjustable trim spring to apply a constant force to the control wheel. “The constant-force design dictated that the amount
of trim required to balance an aerodynamic force asymmetry was speed-dependent,” the Safety Board said.

Loading…