- Date
- April 17, 2002, 11:45 local (16:45 UTC)
- Place
- Bessemer, AL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N727BDGreg Grouleff BD-5B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 16, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA - Birmingham FSDO - 09
- FAA report
- 20020417006179A
- Case key
- 54542
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 pilot's improper landing flare that resulted in a hard landing and the fracture of the left main landing gear casting.
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
After a visual approach to runway 5 at 110 to 120 mph with gear down and the flaps half extended, the pilot executed a touchdown on the left main first in a light crosswind. Upon touchdown, the airplane immediately dropped left and veered left, and the pilot had no directional control. The airplane veered off the runway, over an embankment, and into trees. Examination of the wreckage revealed the left main wheel was separated from the gear leg, the left stabilator was bent, and the right wing displayed leading edge damage. The aluminum casting of the left main landing gear, part number LG93, was fractured and showed no evidence of previous damage or cracks.
Factual narrative
On April 17, 2002, at 1145 central daylight time, a Greg Grouleff BD-5B, experimental airplane, N727BD, registered to, owned, and operated by the commercial pilot, veered off the runway into trees after a fracture of the left main landing gear during touchdown at Bessemer Airport in Bessemer, Alabama. The personal flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The local flight departed Bessemer, Alabama, at 1115.
After conducting maneuvers in the local area, the pilot returned to the airport and entered the airport traffic pattern. The pilot flew a visual approach to runway 5 at 110 to 120 mph with gear down and flaps half-extended. The pilot stated a light crosswind condition was present, and he executed a touchdown on the left main landing gear first. Upon touchdown, the left wing immediately dropped left, the airplane veered left, and the pilot had no directional control. The airplane continued to veer left off the runway at high speed and, after about 300 feet, it went over an embankment into trees.
Examination of the wreckage revealed the left main wheel was separated from the gear leg and found near the touchdown point. The left stabilator was bent, and the right wing displayed leading edge damage. The aluminum casting of the left main landing gear, part number LG93, was fractured and showed no evidence of previous damage or cracks.
The BD-5B is a home-built airplane with no published operating manual. BD Micro Technologies, which manufactures a kit version of the BD-5B, lists the stall speed for an unmodified, kit-built aircraft as 59 mph.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N727BD
- Reported as
- Greg Grouleff BD-5B
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 984
- Airframe hours
- 600
- Engine
- Honda EB-3, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- R. David Harcourt
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 6, 2001 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- EKY · Bessemer, AL
- Destination
- EKY · Bessemer, AL
- Airport
- EKY · Bessemer Alabama, runway 5, 5,700 × 100 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- September 20, 2000
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 4,760 total · 550 in this make and model · 4,700 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 999° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.25 inHg
- Observed at
- BHM, 17 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 4, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.7 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.