19980919025529A

Wind caught acft acft on landing and forced it off the rwy and into a ditch where it flipped over. (.19) on September 19, 1998, about 1750 eastern daylight time, a homebuilt russell rebel, N61538, was substantially damaged when it impacted in a ditch after a hard landing at the Harrison County Airport (8G6), Cadiz, Ohio. The certificated private pilot/owner and passenger were not injuried. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a visual flight rules flight plan filed, but not activated for the flight conducted under 14 CFR part 91. The airplane, originally built with a tailwheel, had russell amphibious floats installed, with dual main wheels and tow caster wheels at the front of the floats. The original engine was replaced with a Lycoming 0-320-A2C. The private pilot/owner reported that he recently purchased the airplane, and received 15 hours of flight training from the original builder. Included in his training were takeoffs and landings from land and water. The pilot stated that he was en route from oshkosh, Wisconsin, to lambertville, new jersey, when he entered BG6'S airport traffic pattern for runway 31. He remarked that his flare was normal and the he added some power to maintain altitude with the nose high as required for float landings. He stated that just before touchdown, a wind gust lifted the left wing, and it came down hard. The airplane ran off the right side of the runway, when the pilot added full power to go around. The pilot reported that the airspeed was insufficient to prevent the airplane from dropping in the ditch alongside the runway, where it impacted the opposite side of the ditch and overturned. A federal aviation administration inspector reported that he examined the wreckage on September 22, 1998. The inspector confirmed flight control continuity and observed no indications of any engine anomalies. He also found 15 gallons of fuel onboard. He stated that the unique wheel arrangement under the airplane's floats, made it readily apparent that the initial touch down of the airplane was right of centerline. He further stated that the ground scaring where the airplane left the runway indicated that the wheels were initally down, but after contacting a 18 inch hole, the gear appeared to have been pushed into the retract position. The skid marks continued for about 450 feet through the grass, until the front of the floats contacted the ditch and flipped the airplane. The inspector described the damage to include: both propeller blades bent; the floats, float struts, and hard point attaching areas as broken and bent; firewall damaged; main cabin bulkhead twisted; and rudder buckled. The winds, recored at 1753 from wheeling Ohio county airport, located 20 miles to the east, were: 170 degrees magnetic at 5 knots. (-23) pilot stated crosswind forced aircraft right of center and then off runway, into a ditch, causing aircraft to flip over.