So, when the time came to leave I taxied down first and turned around at the end. My plane doesn’t turn very tight and I maneuvered to avoid the bushes nearby...I thought. The takeoff was normal up until right after rotation, when the aircraft pitched up a bit, which was unusual. Then I noticed the elevator was really stiff...and partially jammed!
About this time my buddy told me I was dragging a piece of a bush. I told him my elevator was partially unresponsive but I was still climbing and I planned to get some altitude before troubleshooting. I checked my left elevator. All normal. Then I checked the right and there it was. I could see part of the bush sticking out of the top of the horizontal stab and the green part of the bush under the elevator. We talked about what to do and we thought slowing down to slow flight and exercising the elevator might make it work free. With every 10 degrees of flaps I put in, the aircraft would pitch over pretty strongly, which makes sense since the airflow over the tail is changing. It took a lot of trim with each flap setting change. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to dislodge it. Bringing the flaps up had the same pitch changes and trimming in reverse.
By this time we were about to our fuel stop. Winds were light and variable and I elected to do a half flap landing. My concern was being able to get the nose up on an already nose heavy airplane. I slowed down and configured early so I could be stable. The last 30’ or so was a roller coaster! If I pushed on the yoke, it was very stiff and then would suddenly let loose, which would require an immediate opposite action. But, when you’d pull, it was stiff and then, yup, you guessed it! You’d get more than you needed. So, the result was a controlled oscillation for those last 30’, using power to help control the descent. With a little luck, I was able to time it just right to grease it on at the bottom of the second oscillation.
So, what happened? Well, when I made the turn at the end of the runway, I had the yoke full back as is normal in backcountry ops. In doing so, with the elevator full up, the horn we have on the elevator opens up to a V. That V snagged a 3/4” limb off of one of those bushes and wedged deep between the horizontal stab and elevator. The added drag from the greenery made sure it wasn’t coming out. That and some of the knots on the limb.
I’m still processing what the takeaway is from this. First and foremost is to fly the plane. Second, mind you’re tail when maneuvering on the ground. Years ago i read or heard that this could be an issue but I’ve never had it be an issue. Third, have a general idea of what configuration changes will make on the airflow around the aircraft. Fourth, probably a good idea to do one last control check before power application when maneuvering around anything that has the potential to get stuck in the tail. Fifth, another validation of why i prefer to fly with a buddy. He was a big help in figuring out what was going on and where the issue was. And if things went south, to get help. And lastly, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to do some air work using just trim, aileron and power or any other combination of controls where one or more are lost.
Anyway, it was a good learning lesson today. Hopefully this might help someone else or at least be food for thought.
Pet of the bush under my right horizontal tab.
