During a cross-country flight in the Cirrus SR22, the pilot and a passenger in the rear seat unbuckled their seat belts to try to retrieve items behind the pilot’s seat.
A passenger in the front right seat, who was unfamiliar with the side-stick controller in the airplane, grabbed the side-stick controller while adjusting their seat. The pressure on the control stick caused the airplane to violently climb and descend three or four times before the pilot was able to regain control.
During the excursions the pilot and the back-seat passenger bounced off the ceiling, resulting in minor injuries to the pilot and serious injuries to the passenger.
The pilot declared an emergency and proceeded direct to Chicago Executive Airport where he landed uneventfully.
The pilot stated there was nothing wrong with the airplane prior to the event occurring and the airplane was not damaged.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to monitor aircraft control, which resulted in a loss of control when a passenger inadvertently moved the control stick, and the pilot and other passenger’s decision to unbuckle their restraints inflight.
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This August 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Good lesson to learn, never unbuckle your seat belt while PIC!
It’s VERY poor practice for the pilot flying to release safety restraints for any reason. Loosen them a bit (not much, but climb out out of them altogether? Very poor decision.
Preflight briefing for right seat pax is always beneficial.
“Don’t touch that! Don’t put your feet on those pedals”, etc.
For a rear seat passenger to momentarily unbelt to get something out of reach is understandable, but for the pilot to be unbelted while operating the aircraft is just inexcusable!
…and illegal. The FARs require the pilot to be buckled in whenever the aircraft is in motion.