In article .com, Mike
the Strike writes
Following the thread on landing with one spoiler, I wonder what
proportion of landing accidents result from mechanical failure or
jamming of primary flight controls and spoilers/dive brakes. I
personally know of a couple of failures - one spoiler handle sheared
off as the pilot did his pre-landing checks and he landed safely
off-field and another had a pencil jam in controls, limiting control
movement, but again landed safely.

With the exception of incorrect assembly, I have to believe that
asymmetric control failure or jamming must be an extremely rare cause
of landing accidents compared to the more common reasons we all know.

Any actual data or good anecdotes?

About 35 years ago a well known pilot was killed when one of the flying
controls, I think the elevator, was jammed by a spanner (wrench) which
had been lodged in the glider since it was built.
It seems the aero's he was doing freed this FB, which was later
identified as being "of Eastern European origin". It had a "witness
mark" on it which helped the investigators determine what had happened.
I think the a/c was either a Bocian or a Blanik.

The victim was a former RAF warrant officer who was my CFI at RAF
Andover in 1948. His name was Andy Goff.
--
Mike Lindsay