ANC03LA102

The pilot reported he was landing his tailwheel airplane to the south on a private gravel airstrip. He said there was a direct crosswind from the east of between 5 and 10 knots. Shortly after touchdown, he lost control of the airplane, and it ground-looped to the left. The right main landing gear bent, and the right wing struck the ground, with the outboard 4 feet separating from the airplane. The pilot said there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.

On August 24, 2003, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped de Havilland DHC-2 airplane, N513F, sustained substantial damage following a loss of control while landing at a private airstrip, located approximately 25 miles northwest of Kenai, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot/airplane owner was not injured. The Title 14, CFR Part 91 personal flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight departed the Lake Hood Strip, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1330, and the destination was the private airstrip.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) on August 25, at 1415, the pilot related he was landing to the south on the gravel-surfaced airstrip. He said there was a direct crosswind from the east at 5 to 10 knots, and shortly after he lowered the tailwheel during the landing roll, he lost control of the airplane and it ground-looped to the left. He reported that the right landing gear leg was bent, and the right wing was snapped-off about 4 feet inboard from the wingtip. He said there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.