Tail assembly eyed in N.C. plane crash CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) =97 A jammed tail assembly may be to blame for the=20 commuter airline crash that killed 21 people at Charlotte/Douglas=20 International Airport, a federal investigator said. A possible malfunction= =20 of the Air Midwest plane's elevator, a flap on the tail used to control a=20 plane's angle of climb or descent, would have hampered the pilot's efforts= =20 to control the aircraft. John Goglia of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that=20 the five-member panel had reached no official conclusions about the crash's= =20 cause. A final determination probably will take months. But Goglia, who=20 had been the on-scene member of the team and the investigation's spokesman,= =20 offered a leading theory. "I think they pulled back (the controls) and the= =20 elevator jammed," Goglia told The News & Observer of Raleigh. "That's my=20 personal opinion." Goglia did not immediately return a call seeking=20 further comment Tuesday. The Beech 1900D, a twin-engine turboprop, was=20 operated by Air Midwest Inc. as US Airways Express Flight 5481. It crashed= =20 in flames Jan. 8 just after taking off for a short flight to Greer, S.C.=20 Investigators said it climbed sharply, rolled and dropped, clipping a=20 corner of a hangar before hitting the ground and exploding. Goglia told=20 the newspaper it's not clear what might have restricted the elevator's=20 movement, if that is what happened. Investigators have focused on the thin cable that connected the elevator to= =20 the cockpit flight controls. The cable ran through a series of pulleys and= =20 guide pins, and it passed near screws, bolts and other mechanisms that=20 could have affected the cable. In addition, maintenance workers adjusted=20 the cable's tension little more than 24 hours before the crash. The pilot= =20 would have had trouble controlling the plane if the tension was wrong, if=20 bolts were loosened, or if a pulley malfunctioned, Goglia=20 said. Investigators said the flight data recorder showed the elevator was= =20 moving unusually while the plane lifted off from the runway, as it had on=20 all eight previous flights since routine maintenance was performed. But=20 Goglia said that reading may have been false and investigators have=20 modified their initial interpretations of the data. Elevators on Beech=20 turboprops have jammed in at least four other cases during the past 15=20 years, according to NTSB records A spokesman for Air Midwest, a subsidiary= =20 of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc., said Monday that 35 of 43 Beech=20 turboprops in its fleet had been checked so far and no problems were=20 found. Goglia said the airline's findings make it more likely that any=20 problem was confined to the crashed plane. He said investigators were still concerned about the weight and balance of= =20 the plane, which was near its maximum takeoff load. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.atlanticlng.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************