A loose screw on a customized elevator counterweight receptacle may have led to the crash that killed airshow legend Rob Holland a week ago. The NTSB issued a preliminary report on the crash that occurred at Langley Air Force Base on April 24 and noted the screw, which Holland used to adjust the amount of weight to alter control feel of the MXS depending on the kind of routine he intended to fly. The screw was found about 10 feet from the wreckage and had red paint on it, suggesting it became jammed between the elevator and the fixed portion of the horizontal stabilizer, which was also scratched and gouged. “The counterweight plug threads were intact and also contained similar dirt contamination consistent with that found on the elevator,” the report said. “Additionally, about half of the circumference of the left elevator counterweight plug displayed gouging and there was evidence of paint transfer.”
Holland was about 50 feet above the runway on a normal approach when things went wrong, according to “multiple witnesses” cited in the report. “The airplane made a normal approach to the runway and when it was over the end of the runway, it leveled off about 50 ft above the runway and flew straight down the runway for several hundred feet,” the prelim said. “The airplane then ‘porpoised’ twice, pitched ‘straight up,’ rolled 90° to the left and descended to ground impact.”
