Originally Posted by
Andrewgr2
But it seems very likely that the pilot only undid his harness to look at the rudder to see why the aircraft had strange yaw characteristics. The disconnected rudder cable should have been easy to spot in a pre-flight inspection- and should certainly not have escaped whatever inspection was done after work had been done on the rudder.
I agree the first part of your comment. However, the report mentions that the right clevis pin made it to the accident site so, quite possibly, the cable was connected to the rudder until impact. The problem could have been something like a broken pulley bracket or tensioning spring somewhere in between which may only have manifested itself if a "positive control check" had been carried out (as per a glider after rigging where someone holds the control surface still while another tries to waggle the appropriate cockpit control). Even that may have required further more detailed engineering inspection as it would probably not have been clear where in the run the issue was.
I guess the "take-home" is, if a plane is telling you something is not quite right, do an appropriate set of engineering checks on the ground before committing aviation in it! All in all, a very sad accident........
