On 23 January 2012, a Yak-52 plane crashed at Timona Park, Feilding, after a screwdriver became lodged into the elevator of the aircraft during an acrobatic slow roll at about 10:45 NZDT.

Two minutes later the aircraft contacted Ohakea ATC requesting permission to conduct aerobatic manoeuvres at 3,000 feet.

[1]: 6 In the vicinity of Timona Park, several witnesses observed the aircraft in a high-speed dive, which appeared to be banking to the right at the time.

Inspection of the left elevator attachment fitting revealed gouges not consistent with damage caused during the impact.

It was deemed that the screwdriver handle was the most likely source of the fragment taken from the elevator quadrant cable end fitting.

For that to have occurred, the aircraft needed to have been subjected to inverted flight, coupled with an elevator-down input by the pilot.

[1]: 10 Following the crash, the CAA issued an Airworthiness Directive in March 2012, mandating the fitment of a barrier into the rear fuselage of all Yak 52 models.

The Airworthiness Directive also included the requirement to thoroughly inspect all of the fuselage for the presence of foreign object debris prior to the fitment of the barrier.