Cessna 210M N450EM accident near Shirley, New York

Probable cause

The pilot's loss of control during an aborted takeoff as a result of his failure to properly configure the elevator trim prior to flight.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector that, after completing a preflight inspection of the airplane and an engine run up, he taxied the airplane for departure. As the airplane rotated off the runway, the pilot noted that the control yoke felt "heavy." Approximately 25 feet above the ground, the pilot elected to abort the takeoff, and pitched the airplane's nose down. The airplane contacted the runway, bounced, and became airborne again. As the airplane touched down a second time in a nose-down attitude, the propeller struck the runway and the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane skidded off the right side of the runway and came to rest inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, right wing, and engine firewall. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the elevator trim wheel was set to the nose-down position, which accounted for the "heavy" feeling of the flight controls the pilot experienced during the takeoff.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA13CA338 for the full record.