The actuators that move the elevators of a privately operated MD-87 that crashed at Houston Executive Airport Oct. 19 were jammed in the trailing edge down position and that made it impossible for the aircraft to take off. The NTSB preliminary report says the elevator actuators were both bent enough that they prevented the elevators from fully responding to pilot control inputs. “Upon reaching rotation speed, the recorded elevator positions split, but neither moved to a trailing edge up position,” the report says. The aircraft ended up 1400 feet off the end of the runway after the rejected takeoff. All 23 occupants escaped and two were seriously injured. Most of the plane was consumed by a post-crash fire but the tail stayed intact.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/jammed-elevators-cited-in-houston-md-87-overrun