ANC09LA053

The flight instructor was returning from the practice area with his student on a Title 14, CFR part 91, instructional flight. The flight instructor said he landed the tailwheel-equipped airplane with a 8-11 knot quartering tailwind. He said as the airplane slowed, the tailwind blew the nose to the right, resulting in a ground-loop and nose-over. He also reported that the accident could have been prevented by not landing with a tailwind.

On June 11, 2009, about 0700 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Cessna 170B airplane, N2783D, sustained substantial damage during a nose-over during landing at Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by the student pilot owner as a visual flight rules (VFR) dual instruction flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on June 12, the student pilot owner said the instructor was on the controls and landed hard. He said the airplane bounced, touched down again, veered off the runway, and nosed over. The owner said the airplane received damage to both wings, lift struts and the fuselage during the accident. He said there were no known mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. In a written statement to the NTSB dated November 4, 2009, the instructor wrote that he landed the airplane with a quartering tailwind of about 8-11 knots, and that as the airplane slowed the tailwind blew the nose to the right, resulting in a ground-loop and nose-over. He further reported that the accident could have been prevented by not landing with a tailwind.