Falcon lands safely with frozen controls | Aviation International News

Falcon lands safely with frozen controls

Water that pooled under the floor panels of a Falcon 20, froze and restricted the movement of the aileron trim actuator as the airplane was landing at Lond

By Malcolm Payne

March 31, 2008

Water that pooled under the floor panels of a Falcon 20, froze and restricted the movement of the aileron trim actuator as the airplane was landing at London Stansted Airport is to blame for the airplane’s “frozen” controls, according to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

On May 9 last year, the Falcon 20F-5 departed Little Rock, Ark., for London Stansted Airport, with technical stops at Teterboro and Gander. While making a manual approach to Gander, the pilot flying the aircraft felt that the lateral controls were unusually stiff. He assumed that the ailerons had been mistrimmed. The airplane landed at Gander and was on the ground for 39 minutes.

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