pitching down into an uncontrollable descent. About 35 seconds after taking off, Flight 5481 crashed into an aircraft maintenance hangar and burst into flames. The 19 passengers and both pilots were killed. A US Airways mechanic on the ground was treated for smoke inhalation. No one else on the ground was hurt. Cause of the crash The investigators determined the crash to have been the result of the combination of two separate issues. After take-off, the plane climbed steeply as a result of higher than calculated weight on the aircraft that generated an incorrect CG readout. Though both pilots pushed forward on the control column, the plane did not respond to their input, which led to the stalling of the aircraft. The aircraft's most recent service involved adjusting the elevator control cable, and was performed two nights before the crash by Vertex Aerospace at a repair facility located at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. The investigation indicated the mechanic who worked on the elevator cables had never worked on this type of aircraft, and turnbuckles controlling tension on the cables to the elevators had been set incorrectly, resulting in insufficient elevator travel, leading to the pilots not having sufficient pitch control. Although normally a postadjustment control test would be conducted to ensure that the maintenance had been carried out correctly, and that the surface was operating properly, the maintenance supervisor who was instructing the mechanic decided to skip this step. The instructing maintenance supervisor was also the quality assurance inspector on the test, as the primary inspector was unavailable that evening. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) noted that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was aware of "serious deficiencies" in the training procedures at the facility, but had done nothing to correct them. Although the pilots had totaled up the ostensible take-off weight of the aircraft before the flight and determined it to be within limits, the plane was actually overloaded and out of balance due to the use of FAA-approved (but actually incorrect) passenger weight estimates. When checked, the NTSB found that the actual weight of an average passenger was more than 20 pounds (9 kg) greater than estimated. After checking the actual weight of baggage retrieved from the crash site and passengers (based on information from next-of-kin and the medical examiner), the aircraft was found to be actually 580 lb (264 kg) above its maximum allowable take-off