- Date
- November 4, 2013, 10:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fallston, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N52CWTaylorcraft BC 65
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 1, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20131104020699A
- Case key
- 88404
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 directional control during landing resulting in collision with equipment off the side of the runway. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's intentional landing on a closed runway with a tailwind.
Findings · 5
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 instructed the runway repair technicians to move their equipment so that he could depart from the closed runway that was NOTAM'd as such by the airport operator. The pilot/owner then took off downwind. Later, the pilot returned in the accident airplane and the technicians were surprised when the airplane "committed" to landing downwind on the closed runway. The technicians quickly moved their equipment from the runway surface but the pilot was unable to stop the airplane before striking the left wing against a construction vehicle off the left side of the runway, which resulted in substantial damage. In interviews with Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, the pilot did not report any mechanical deficiencies with his airplane that would preclude normal operation. According to NTSB records, this was the pilot's fourth accident in the previous 3 years.
Factual narrative
The pilot instructed the runway repair technicians to move their equipment so that he could depart from the closed runway that was NOTAM'd as such by the airport operator. The pilot/owner then took off downwind. Later, the pilot returned in the accident airplane and the technicians were surprised when the airplane "committed" to landing downwind on the closed runway. The technicians quickly moved their equipment from the runway surface but the pilot was unable to stop the airplane before striking the left wing against a construction vehicle off the left side of the runway, which resulted in substantial damage. In interviews with Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, the pilot did not report any mechanical deficiencies with his airplane that would preclude normal operation. According to NTSB records, this was the pilot's fourth accident in the previous 3 years.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52CW
- Reported as
- Taylorcraft BC 65 (65)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1716
- Built
- 1946
- Engine
- Cont Motor C85 SERIES, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Walker J C
- Registered owner
- Walker J C
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 6, 2013
- Departed
- 0W3 · Churchville, MD
- Destination
- W42 · Fallston, MD
- Airport
- W42 · Fallston, runway 22, 2,200 × 50 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,793 total · 40 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.63 inHg
- Observed at
- KMTN, 11 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 14, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 486 KB 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.