It hit a "mountain of turbulence" and the tail "dug in"? What universe
did that happen in? Aft CG would exacerbate any tendency to a pitch
overshoot after a tab failure, but I can't see how any amount of
turbulence could produce a 10G pitchup without a coincidental tab
failure, unless the plane was totally unstable and Leeward was crazy to
be flying it. The pitch-up would reduce tab loads, not increase them.
Actually, the tab seems to have had two or three failures: possibly an
actuator first, then a hinge, and then the tab itself, mid-span. Maybe a
hinge was the first to go. NTSB metallurgists should be able to identify
pre-existing fatigue cracking, if there was any.

People are going to have axes to grind here, and blaming the pilot is
always a good strategy. Funny that the Hannah/Voodoo precedent is not
mentioned in this explanation. Another turbulence-mountain?

Peter Garrison

I am with Peter on this.
Sounds like an attempt to take something or somebody out of the picture.

Paul Lamar