- Date
- August 21, 2023, 09:55 local (13:55 UTC)
- Place
- Millbrook, NY
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4814HPiper PA-17
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: 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
- 20230821021939A
- Case key
- 192904
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, which resulted in a ground loop.
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 was landing the vintage, tailwheel-equipped airplane. As he touched down on the paved runway that had slight downhill, the pilot described that he “tapped” the brakes, and the right brake “grabbed a little harder than the left.” The pilot attempted to correct with rudder but the airplane ground looped after the right main landing gear separated from the fuselage. The airplane came to rest in the grass area next to the runway. During the accident sequence, the left wing and fuselage were substantially damaged. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the airplane after the accident did not observe any abnormalities of the airplane’s brakes. Based on the lack of any anomalous findings during the postaccident examination of the brakes, it is likely that the pilot lost directional control of the tailwheel-equipped during landing, which resulted in a ground loop.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4814H
- Reported as
- Piper PA-17
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17-112
- Built
- 1948
- Airframe hours
- 5,474
- Engine
- Continental C-85-8, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 4, 2022
- Departed
- POU · Poughkeepsie, NY
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 44N · Sky Acres, runway 35, 3,828 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- 74
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 11, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 486 total · 74 in this make and model · 330 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- POU, 8 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KPOU 211353Z 00000KT 10SM SCT090 24/18 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP176 T02390183=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 21, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.