An Air Force investigation (PDF) has determined that intentionally jammed controls led to the loss of a C-130J and the deaths of 14 people in Afghanistan in October. The report says a pilot put the hard-shell case for a set of night vision goggles in front of the yoke to get the elevators up and out of the way to allow the crew to load some tall pieces of cargo. The crew forgot to remove the impromptu fix and the aircraft pitched up sharply on takeoff, stalled and crashed into a guard hut. The report says the pilots “misidentified the ensuing flight control problem” which resulted in “improper recovery techniques.” The pilots apparently thought the trim was set incorrectly.
The report says jamming the controls is a “non-standard procedure” so it didn’t have any recommendations on how to address the resulting safety issue. However, it did note that the plastic case was hard to see on the night takeoff using night vision goggles. The crash was originally blamed on enemy fire from Afghan insurgents. The crash killed six aircraft crew members, five civilian contractors aboard the plane and three Afghan guards on the ground.
