The Boeing 737-800 had just lifted off a runway on the Greek island of Crete when the flight crew experienced what the Dutch Safety Board called an “uncommon roll effect to the left.”
In its final report on the July 8, 2022, serious incident, the board said the Corendon Airlines 737 —carrying 185 passengers and crew — was initially controllable by the crew’s applications of aileron and rudder as they flew through smooth air. Had they entered turbulence, control might have become difficult, the report said.
The flight crew diverted to Athens rather than continuing to the planned destination, Amsterdam.
No one was injured, but a post-flight inspection of the airplane found that an aileron cable had failed, leaving the 737 in “a degraded state of safety,” the report said. Because of the configuration of the airplane’s flight control system, the failure could not have been detected during the flight crew’s routine before-taxi check, the report adde…
