Rudder Trim Cable Installation Diagram Reversed

Eight months after the FAA demanded a thorough review of maintenance manuals for Beechcraft 1900 regional turboprops, comes word Raytheon has issued a correction due to a reversed illustration.

If a technician were to rig the 1900's forward rudder trim cable as directed by the diagram in the manual, said the manufacturer, the system would operate in reverse fashion. Inputs by the pilot to ease a left-turning tendency would cause the aircraft to yaw further to the left, instead of the right.

Raytheon issued the latest correction in November, according to the Cape Cod Times. The manufacturer said the error was discovered during a post-maintenance inspection.

The correction is the latest of seven manual revisions, and one outright change, issued since two 2003 accidents involving the popular regional airliner. In both of those mishaps, errors in Raytheon's maintenance manuals were cited as factors by the NTSB -- including a backward illustration involving the elevator trim cable in the Cape Cod accident.

"I can't believe [Raytheon] found another one after all they went through," said John Goglia, a former NTSB member who investigated both Beechcraft crashes.

As was reported in Aero-News, twenty-one people onboard an Air Midwest 1900 were killed when the plane went down on takeoff from Charlotte, NC in January 2003. The NTSB cited errors in the aircraft's weight and balance, as well as in its control rigging, as the primary factors in the accident.

The NTSB also stated the aircraft had recently undergone maintenance at a non-certificated repair facility -- prompting parent company Mesa Airlines to state it would no longer use contract repair shops for major maintenance work.

Seven months later, two pilots were killed aboard a Colgan Air Beech 1900 on its first flight following a maintenance check, during which time the forward elevator trim cable had been improperly rigged -- in accordance to the manual.

As of December, there were 255 Beechcraft 1900, 1900C and 1900D aircraft on the FAA's registry, according to the Times.

FMI: NTSB Report On Charlotte, NC Accident,  NTSB Report On Cape Cod, MA Accident