- Date
- May 13, 2000, 07:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Bedford, WY
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N8319ACessna 170B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000513009589A
- Case key
- 49189
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 inadvertent ground loop. A factor was the soft grass airstrip.
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 said that while on takeoff roll from the grass runway, at approximately 40 miles per hour, 'I hit a soft spot which pulled the airplane hard left.' He said the airplane ground looped to the left. The pilot said the left landing gear collapsed, the left wing was bent, and the fuselage was damaged.
Factual narrative
On May 13, 2000, approximately 0730 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 170B, N8319A, was substantially damaged when the aircraft ground looped on takeoff roll on Heiner Airstrip, Bedford, Wyoming. The commercial pilot and his two passengers were not injured. The pilot was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight, which was originating at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
The pilot said that while on takeoff roll from the grass runway, at approximately 40 miles per hour, "I hit a soft spot which pulled the airplane hard left." He said the airplane ground looped to the left. The pilot said the left landing gear collapsed, the left wing was bent, and the fuselage was damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8319A
- Reported as
- Cessna 170B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25171
- Airframe hours
- 3,578
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gaylon G. Heiner
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 25, 2000 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- WY60
- Destination
- LGU · Logan, UT
- Airport
- WY60 · Heiner, runway 22, 2,200 × 40 ft, grass/turf
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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,800 total · 120 in this make and model · 1,724 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 41 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AFO, 9 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.