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A300 flight crew experiences uncommanded rudder trim inputs during takeoff and climb. Neither autopilot will remain engaged and the crew elects to return to the departure airport.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1043717 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201210 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A300 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Rudder Trim System |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 6000 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
On takeoff I had to add right rudder in to keep the aircraft straight right from lift off. I looked at the rudder trim and saw it was at 3.8 units. My first officer was busy talking to departure and I believe we were given a climb to 12;000 ft. I had my first officer look at the rudder trim and he too noticed it was adding left trim in as well; we both tried to zero the trim out; but it kept adding trim into the rudder. I called for him to select the number one autopilot. With the rudder trim being added; the autopilot could not handle the inputs and was automatically clicked off; tried the number two autopilot with the same action. We were now climbing through 10;000 ft and I asked to level off and return due to the problem. I also asked the jump seat captain to come up and help with the rudder trim and as a third pair of eyes; because I had to hand fly the aircraft and my first officer was very busy talking with company and ATC. I had to use right rudder all the way to landing to keep the aircraft straight. We landed uneventfully; and taxiing in the rudder trim was still adding left input; as I remember the rudder trim had 3.8 units in by the time we made the short taxi into the gate. We also went to the QRH for the runaway rudder trim checklist.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A300 flight crew experiences uncommanded rudder trim inputs during takeoff and climb. Neither autopilot will remain engaged and the crew elects to return to the departure airport.
Narrative: On takeoff I had to add right rudder in to keep the aircraft straight right from lift off. I looked at the rudder trim and saw it was at 3.8 units. My First Officer was busy talking to departure and I believe we were given a climb to 12;000 FT. I had my First Officer look at the rudder trim and he too noticed it was adding left trim in as well; we both tried to zero the trim out; but it kept adding trim into the rudder. I called for him to select the number one autopilot. With the rudder trim being added; the autopilot could not handle the inputs and was automatically clicked off; tried the number two autopilot with the same action. We were now climbing through 10;000 FT and I asked to level off and return due to the problem. I also asked the jump seat Captain to come up and help with the rudder trim and as a third pair of eyes; because I had to hand fly the aircraft and my First Officer was very busy talking with company and ATC. I had to use right rudder all the way to landing to keep the aircraft straight. We landed uneventfully; and taxiing in the rudder trim was still adding left input; as I remember the rudder trim had 3.8 units in by the time we made the short taxi into the gate. We also went to the QRH for the runaway rudder trim checklist.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.