- Date
- April 5, 1989, 17:45 local (22:45 UTC)
- Place
- Devils Lake, ND
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7523KPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 24, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 17691
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
Inadequate compensation for wind conditions by the pilot, which resulted in loss of directional control and an inadvertent ground loop/swerve. Contributing factors were: the crosswind and the pilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft.
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 plt rprtd that as he was landing on rwy 31 with a wind from 030 deg at 8 KTS, he lost directional control & the plane ground looped to the right. During the occurrence, the left wing struck the surface & the left main spar was bent. The plt had 15 hrs of flt time in this make & model of acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7523K
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-239
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-E, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Gregory P. Eisenzimmer
- Departed
- DVL
- Destination
- DVL
- Airport
- DVL · Devils Lake, runway 31, 5,509 × 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
- 35
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 496 total · 15 in this make and model · 439 as pilot in command · 49 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F