Yoke came off in flight.

[Stetson20]

No injuries. Kudos to the frazzled pilot.

[ilovecornfields]

Good advertisement for an autopilot with the “level” feature. Maybe add a “flare” button.

Would love to hear what made the yoke come off. Sounds like no fun!

[elimansour]

That was stressful!  So glad that this ended with a good outcome.

[Ragsf15e]

Fellow USAF fighter pilot had that happen to her (obviously it’s a different type of control but same idea).  She called back to Ops to describe what had happened as she held at 10,000’.  There was no shortage of rude and salacious comments from the “popcorn eaters” gathered around the Ops desk while she described (in great detail) the “top of the stick” falling off in my hand and having to grab the bottom to maintain control.  Couldn’t have happened to a better aviator though.  Tough as nails and handled like a pro.

[Eight8Victor]

That could have been even more awkward had he had a non-pilot passenger in the right seat.

[Bolter]

3 hours ago, ilovecornfields said:

Good advertisement for an autopilot with the “level” feature. Maybe add a “flare” button.

Would love to hear what made the yoke come off. Sounds like no fun!

This was hashed in some other threads when it happened.  I believe he did use the AP to level things, immediately.  The long periods without response was because he did not relocate the headset when sliding over.  Pressing the pax PTT opened a channel without a microphone.  But it did give some "clicks" on the air.  Obviously, he later corrected this, but Aviate before Communicate.  

The plane was just out of maintenance, and likely that was related.  

[carusoam]

This is a reminder to check for cracks where the bolt holds the yoke to the shaft…

It is a cast piece of aluminum…

Over the decades… it is possible to have the yoke cracks open and separate from the shaft…

 

Haven’t seen this happen during flight… but, a few have been replaced around here…

 

There used to be discussions about how various coatings and coverings can hide cracks… this is a good example of one…

Best regards,

-a-

[A64Pilot]

I didn’t watch the video, but is it that tough to reach over and use the other yoke? If in a tandem seat airplane, yeah that would be tough, but side by side?

Ref the top of the stick coming off, the front seat stick of the AH-64 folds to about half height, it’s no big deal to fly with a short stick, you don’t have to unfold it.

Are these really emergencies?

[yvesg]

Perhaps we should start practicing landing the aircraft using the copilot yoke while sitting in the pilot seat!

Yves

[takair]

The older Mooneys still have a 500 hour yoke shaft inspection AD.  I think the AD itself is more likely to cause issues than leaving it alone. 

[Guest]

Learning to fly from the right seat is not hard, thousands of CFI's do it daily!

A full control check before departure might have pointed to a wheel that was about to depart?

[Shadrach]

56 minutes ago, takair said:

The older Mooneys still have a 500 hour yoke shaft inspection AD.  I think the AD itself is more likely to cause issues than leaving it alone. 

Agreed. Not a good AD. I’ve done several of the penetrant tests. It’s messy, it requires disassembly of a perfectly functioning system and the removal/reinstallation of hardware likely causes more wear to the components than leaving them alone.

[TheAv8r]

I’m someone who just replaced both his yokes after a good eyed mechanic caught hairline cracks all the way through the diecast metal where the shaft meets the yoke hidden underneath the cracked Powdercoating. Without peeling that Powdercoating back, you’d have never seen it. Thanks to the good people in this forum, I was able to quickly get replacements but it does happen. 

[Shadrach]

1 hour ago, Alex M said:

I’m someone who just replaced both his yokes after a good eyed mechanic caught hairline cracks all the way through the diecast metal where the shaft meets the yoke hidden underneath the cracked Powdercoating. Without peeling that Powdercoating back, you’d have never seen it. Thanks to the good people in this forum, I was able to quickly get replacements but it does happen. 

This was not a crack. This was loose hardware that fell out.

[A64Pilot]

15 hours ago, Shadrach said:

This was not a crack. This was loose hardware that fell out.

Again I’m suspicious, if it’s like My J then it has a thick self locking nut with more than 1 thread showing. I don’t see it working loose, much less getting so loose it fell out without being noticed.

[Shadrach]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Again I’m suspicious, if it’s like My J then it has a thick self locking nut with more than 1 thread showing. I don’t see it working loose, much less getting so loose it fell out without being noticed.

If it has the tapered pin, it is conceivable that someone removed the nut failed to reinstalled it. The pin itself is typically a PITA to remove.  All manner of home grown methods are used to drive out the pin, including rivet guns.

[Bolter]

An interview with Shawn, the pilot that lost his yoke, is on YouTube, following up on the recent ATC radio video: