- Date
- June 13, 2020, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Ghent, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N323TXWaco YMF F5C
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200613010709A
- Case key
- 101435
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 loss of directional control on takeoff, which resulted in a runway excursion and collision with trees.
Findings · 2
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 of the tailwheel-equipped bi-plane was performing practice takeoffs and landings on a 75-foot-wide turf runway following an uneventful local flight. During the fourth takeoff, the airplane accelerated down the runway and after the pilot raised the tailwheel off the ground, the airplane suddenly drifted toward the left side of the runway. The left-wing tip contacted trees and brush near the runway's left edge, and pivoted the airplane left into the trees. Both wings and the fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot also reported that "modest but variable and gusty winds" prevailed at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N323TX
- Reported as
- Waco YMF F5C (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- F5C-8-124
- Built
- 2011
- Airframe hours
- 296.7
- Engine
- Jacobs R755A2M, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 14, 2019 · 24 hours before
- Departed
- NY1 · Ghent, NY
- Destination
- NY1 · Ghent, NY
- Airport
- NY1 · Kline Kill, runway 01, 4,000 × 75 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 17, 2019
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 1,150 total · 16 in this make and model · 960 as pilot in command · 35 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 10 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- PSF, 16 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 1, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.7 MB 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.