- Date
- May 20, 2009, 20:00 local (May 21, 2009, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ozona, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2450KLuscombe 8E
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report November 9, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- FAA report
- 20090520053939A
- Case key
- 73880
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 maintain directional control of the airplane during landing.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The private pilot had just departed in his tailwheel-equipped airplane from a 6,000-foot-long asphalt runway, and was attempting to land back on the runway. The airplane bounced and the pilot reduced power and tried to make a three-point landing, but the airplane was not properly aligned with the runway. The airplane then veered off the runway, ground-looped and flipped inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and left wing. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane or engine.
Factual narrative
The private pilot had just departed in his tail wheel equipped airplane from a 6,000-foot-long asphalt runway, and was attempting to land back on the runway. The airplane subsequently bounced and the pilot reduced power and tried to make a three-point landing, but the airplane was not properly aligned with the runway. The airplane then veered off the runway, ground-looped and flipped inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and left wing. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane or engine.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2450K
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5177
- Engine
- Cont Motor C85 SERIES, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Clark Dennis L
- Registered owner
- Clark Dennis L
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- OZA · Ozona, TX
- Destination
- OZA · Ozona, TX
- Airport
- OZA · Ozona Municipal Airport, runway 16
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 290 total · 6 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 24, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 317 KB 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.
Other investigations on N2450K · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.