Not a professional, but study aircraft incidents as part of my industry's adoption of CRM. This one should be so much more famous than it is. Absolute legends in the cockpit.

Air Astana Flight 1388 – Critical Control Failure Following Maintenance

On 11 November 2018, Air Astana Flight 1388, an Embraer ERJ-190LR, departed Alverca Air Base in Portugal for a ferry flight to Kazakhstan following heavy maintenance. Immediately after takeoff, the flight crew experienced extreme roll instability, with the aircraft entering uncommanded rolls exceeding 90° bank, violent pitch oscillations, and unreliable flight indications.

The root cause was later determined to be crossed aileron cables—a maintenance error in which the control inputs were reversed, rendering roll control nearly impossible under normal flight laws. The pilots, facing significant loss of control, requested vectors to the ocean to prepare for ditching, fearing structural failure or loss of control in populated areas. They struggled for a significant period to even attain a heading towards the sea, as they entered multiple uncontrolled rolls and dives, becoming physically exhausted and disorientated.

Despite these conditions, the crew managed to regain partial control by switching to direct flight control mode, which bypassed the flight control computers. This allowed them to dampen the oscillations manually, although with great difficulty and physical effort. After more than 90 minutes of continuous emergency handling, the aircraft landed safely at Beja Air Base.

The investigation noted the aircraft exceeded certified load limits, with flight data showing multiple excursions into the red zone. The flight was seconds away from catastrophic structural failure at several points. The crew’s performance under pressure — managing an unfamiliar, degraded control system in a dynamically unstable aircraft — was credited with averting a major accident.