- Date
- May 12, 2021, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fulton, MO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N179VPSmith Miniplane DSA-1
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210512008329A
- Case key
- 103080
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 control of the airplane during landing in gusty crosswinds.
Findings · 3
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 pilot reported he was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane when on touchdown, the airplane’s right wing lifted and the pilot lost control. The airplane nosed over and impacted on the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and upper rear fuselage near the bulkhead. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing the airplane on runway 36 with wind from 060o at 11 knots with gusts to 17 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N179VP
- Reported as
- Smith Miniplane DSA-1
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Airframe hours
- 400
- Engine
- Lycoming O-290, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · May 1, 2020
- Departed
- KVLA · Vandalia, IL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- KFTT · Elton Hensley Memorial, runway 36, 4,001 × 75 ft, concrete
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
- 62
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Unknown
- Last flight review
- October 3, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 570 total · 10 in this make and model · 490 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 11 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.41 inHg
- Observed at
- KCOU, 10 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 8, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.8 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.