20120704015179A

Description: aircraft crash at Goose Bay Airport, alaskastatement of events: the pilot hired the instructor pilot for instruction because of limited recency of experience with general aviation flight and the recent purchase of the airplane. The weather was clear, winds calm, and no flight restrictions. The crew departed birchwood (bcv) airport approx. 12:30 pm en route across the knik inlet to practice area maneuvers before attempting landings at Goose Bay Airport. This was the first flight in the aircraft for the pilot in the front seat. Prior to departing, the crew briefed the flight profile and discussed that they would not use brakes at any time during landings. They completed approx. 30 minutes of ground instruction on the aircraft and 20 minutes of taxi practice around the airport parking area. En route to Goose Bay, the pilot requested the instructor pilot demonstrate the first full stop landing but the instructor said he felt the pilot would do fine. The instructor stated again that no brakes would be used during the landings. Once established in the pattern at Goose Bay, the pilot stated he was not receiving any replies to his calls within the airplane to the instructor but he continued for the first landing. The instructor pilot stated that he normally does not instruct a student if the student is flying fine but he did receive a response from the pilot when he did make a verbal input while on final. As the aircraft slowed on landing, the tail wheel made contact with the ground and the airplane immediately veered to the right. The pilot applied full left rudder to correct the heading without any change. He then applied full left brake without any change. The instructor stated he also applied full left rudder initially and then full left brake without any corrections and called for no brakes over the intercom. He stated that he never felt resistance in the rudder movements or brake applications indicating the pilot in front was fighting him on the controls. As the airplane departed the runway surface, the pilot applied full brakes and the aircraft flipped on to the top. The crew egressed the aircraft. Damage to the aircraft was limited to the tail, left wing surface, propeller and engine. There were no serious injuries in the accident. Neither crew member was wearing a helmet but were using restraint harnesses. No definite cause for the loss of control could be found. No mechanical malfunction to the tail wheel assembly could be determined. Failure of the intercom system was suspected but post accident tests showed no failure within the system. One note was the front seat headset plug ins were bent in the accident but did not impact operations. The instructor pilot was well-trained and had recency of experience. The pilot had previous tail wheel experience but had not flown privately for 12 years. The pilot recognized the danger of flying a new aircraft without proficiency or recency of experience so hired an instructor, an excellent idea. Recommendation: due to no determination of failure of ability or suspect of lack of competency, no 44709 evaluation is recommended. Mechanical failure of a component could be suspected but no facts are evident.