- Date
- May 15, 2005, 13:13 local (21:13 UTC)
- Place
- Dillingham, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8275UPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Anchorage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20050515011809A
- Case key
- 61488
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The instructor pilot's inadequate supervision, and the dual student's failure to maintain directional control. Factors associated with the accident were a crosswind, and an inadvertent ground loop.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The flight instructor was providing flight instruction to the student pilot in a tailwheel-equipped airplane. The flight instructor said that just after landing on a dry, paved runway, which required a correction for a left crosswind, the student pilot allowed the airplane to veer to the left of the runway centerline. The instructor said that he took control of the airplane in an attempt to realign the airplane, but the airplane ground looped to the left, and the airplane's right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane's right wing struck the surface of the runway, and sustained structural damage. The first pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On May 15, 2005, about 1313 Alaska daylight time, N8275U, a tailwheel-equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, sustained substantial damage during landing at the Dillingham Airport, Dillingham, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area instructional flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The first pilot, a certificated flight instructor, seated in the rear seat, and the second pilot, a student pilot, seated in the front seat, were not injured. The accident airplane was owned by the second pilot. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the Dillingham Airport, Dillingham, about 1300.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on May 16, the first pilot reported that he was providing flight instruction to the second pilot. The first pilot said that just after landing on runway 1, a dry, paved runway, which required a correction for a left crosswind, the second pilot allowed the airplane to veer slightly to the right of the runway centerline. He said that he took control of the airplane in an attempt to realign the airplane, but the airplane ground looped to the left, and the airplane's right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane's right wing struck the surface of the runway, and sustained structural damage. The first pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Dillingham Airport weather observation at the time of the accident consisted of: Sky conditions and ceiling, 2,100 feet broken, 3,100 feet overcast; visibility, 20 statute miles; wind, 100 degrees (magnetic) at 5 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8275U
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7909102
- Airframe hours
- 1,554.8
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Kerrick L. Stout
- Registered owner
- Kerrick L. Stout
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 1, 2004 · 1,532 hours before
- Departed
- DLG · Dillingham, AK
- Destination
- DLG
- Airport
- DLG · Dillingham, runway 01, 6,404 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 5,190 total · 21 in this make and model · 4,740 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 22 total · 21 in this make and model · 20 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,100 ft broken
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.54 inHg
- Observed at
- DLG
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.