- Date
- October 23, 1996, 16:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Alliance, NE
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3939ZPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 23, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19961023033339A
- Case key
- 10482
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 instructor-pilot's inadequate supervision by not taking timely action after the student started losing directional control. A factor was the loss of directional control by the student pilot.
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 instructor-pilot reported that the airspeed was a 'little fast' during the landing transition. At touchdown the airplane started veering right. Then the student overcorrected and the aircraft veered off the runway to the left. The instructor-pilot reported that he came on the controls; the airplane entered a ground loop and the left wing impacted the ground.
Factual narrative
On October 23, 1996, at 1630 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-18, N3939Z, was substantially damaged when the pilot lost control of the airplane during landing. The instructor pilot was unable to take control of the aircraft from the student pilot and prevent the aircraft from a ground loop. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight had departed the Alliance Municipal Airport, Alliance, Nebraska, on a local training flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed.
The instructor pilot reported that the airspeed was a "little fast" during the landing transition. At touchdown the airplane started veering right, but then the student pilot overcorrected and the aircraft veered off the runway to the left. The instructor pilot reported that he came on the controls. He reported that the airplane entered a ground loop and the left wing impacted the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3939Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7785
- Airframe hours
- 1,056
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Heartland Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 1996 · 82 hours before
- Departed
- AIA
- Airport
- AIA · Alliance Municipal, runway 8, 6,342 × 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
- 61
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 3,150 total · 400 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 16 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.