Clearly an aileron roll to the left, or even a return to neutral, was not possible otherwise the aircraft would not have maintained a steadily increasing bank angle and right turn
Left roll was possible. The co-pilot’s cable remained attached. After separation of pilot’s cable, either seat could roll the yoke left, and pulled the Starboard cable for a turn. The yokes are interconnected.
Such a roll left was initiated as soon as the pilot wanted to stop his right roll at thirty degrees. Contrary to CAB, both cables do not fail and bind after one fails. There is an immediate loss of tension on the left, (MAYBE. CAB suggests the cables were not re tensioned after boost unit install), which merges with right cable tension, for a net reduction.
BUT. Each cable is “pinned” (fixed) to its respective column command wheel. Right cable cannot command further right roll, (pilot certainly avoided that) but it CAN command left roll. A further discussion of “aileron loop” is needed. It is not actually an uninterrupted loop.
The lack of any roll left, (which is not known,) cannot be concluded. Eyewitnesses? Certainly not. The problem becomes, no way to stop roll left. As described, the Electra, By Design, returns its control surfaces to neutral without any input. This is trained. It suggests the solution is to release controls, and let the airplane regain (uncommanded) control on its own. Not necessarily Straight and level.
Don’t fall into the trap: right aileron positioned three degrees right wing down.
After IMPACT. Was there a piece of high tension power line caught in the aileron pocket? Finding telltale damage after the path this aircraft undertook, and suggesting to draw a conclusion of flight path is deceptive, sloppy, or simply, ridiculous. This rationale was applied to instrumentation (AI), let’s also apply it to “as found”, post impact.
Last edited by Concours77; 6th Jan 2018 at 18:21.