- Date
- March 19, 1994, 15:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Chamblee, GA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N57THBoeing PT-17
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 19, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 3359
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 failure to compensate for the wind condition during landing. A factor is a tailwind.
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 pilot lost directional control of the airplane after touchdown. The airplane veered off the runway and collapsed the main landing gear. The approach and the touchdown were made with a quartering tail wind. The landing runway was runway 02, and the reported winds were 250 dedrees at 10 knots. No aircraft mechanical problems were reported by the pilot.
Factual narrative
On March 19, 1994, at 1515 eastern standard time, a Boeing (Stearman) PT-17, N57TH, ground looped, veered off the left side of the runway, and collapsed the left main landing gear, while attempting a landing on runway 2L at Dekalb-Peachtree Airport, Chamblee, Georgia. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pleasure flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91, with no flight plan filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage; the pilot and passenger were not injured. The flight departed Chamblee, at 1445 hours.
According to the pilot, he lost control of the airplane after touchdown. He further stated that the nose of the airplane started turning to the left and continued until it was 180 degrees from the landing magnetic heading. The approach and the landing were made with a 10 knot quartering tail wind. No mechanical problems were reported with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57TH
- Reported as
- Boeing PT-17
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 75-4240
- Airframe hours
- 6,000
- Engine
- P&W R-985, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- American East Airways
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 20, 1993 · 24 hours before
- Airport
- PDK · Peachtree Dekalb Airport, runway 2L, 3,736 × 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 64
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 600 in this make and model · 7,000 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PDK
Other investigations on N57TH · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.