NTSB Identification: WPR12IA428
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Incident occurred Sunday, September 16, 2012 in Ellensburg, WA
Aircraft: ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL 690A, registration: N57112
Injuries: 1 Minor,2 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators used data provided by various sources and may not have traveled in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft incident report.
On September 16, 2012 about 1610 Pacific daylight time, an Aero Commander 690A, N57112, encountered turbulence and a sequent aileron control system failure while maneuvering above a wild land fire near Ellensburg, Washington (ELN). The airline transport pilot (ATP) sustained minor injuries and the two passengers sustained no injuries. A precautionary landing was made at ELN after the turbulence encounter. The airplane was registered to Skystar Inc. and operated by Courtney Aviation under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company flight plan was filed for the local flight that departed ELN at 1545.

The pilot reported that while in a right hand turn around the wild land fire, the airplane entered a column of smoke. The pilot quickly leveled the wings and as the airplane passed through the smoke it encountered turbulence. After exiting the smoke column, the pilot noticed that he needed significant control deflection to the right to keep the airplane’s wings level. The pilot initiated a precautionary landing at ELN and landed with no further incident.

Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the aileron control rod for the left aileron was fractured and had separated near the aileron control bellcrank.

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