- Date
- September 18, 1993, 13:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Festus, MO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N840BLuscombe 8F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 20, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930918035259A
- Case key
- 9321
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
a fatigue failure of the tailwheel spring.
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 control of the airplane when the tailwheel spring failed during landing roll. Metallurgical examination of the fracture surface determined the failure was from fatigue.
Factual narrative
On September 18, 1993, at 1315 central daylight time, a Luscombe 8F, N840B, sustained substantial damage when it departed the runway and ground-looped during landing rollout at the Festus Memorial Airport, Festus, Missouri. The private pilot was not injured. No flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight which originated at the St. Clair Regional Airport, St. Clair, Missouri.
The pilot reported the tail wheel spring broke during landing roll, and that he lost directional control when the rudder became ineffective. The tail wheel spring was examined at the NTSB Materials Laboratory. The report described the fracture as containing features indicative of fatigue cracking.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N840B
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 6772
- Airframe hours
- 1,783
- Engine
- Continental C-90-12F, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Paul V. Graves
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Provisional (Special); Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 18, 1992 · 33 hours before
- Departed
- K39 · St Clair, MO
- Airport
- FES · Festus Memorial Airport, runway 18, 2,202 × 49 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
- 55
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 337 total · 307 in this make and model · 307 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
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 N840B · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.