- Date
- August 20, 2023, 19:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Warrenton, VA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N39721Waco UPF-7
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear collapse
- 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
- 20230820014519A
- Case key
- 192912
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 ground loop during landing resulting from a partial separation of the right main landing gear strut during takeoff.
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
According to the pilot, after takeoff in the vintage tailwheel-equipped biplane, he was notified via radio that the right main landing gear was partially separated from the airframe. The pilot, returned to the airport and during landing, he continued to fly the airplane down the runway with the right main landing gear in the air until the airplane decelerated and settled onto the turf runway. Once the airplane slowed, it “ground loop[ed]” and came to rest on the nose, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. Postaccident examination revealed that the inner strut had separated from the outer strut but remained partially attached.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N39721
- Reported as
- Waco UPF-7
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5854
- Built
- 1942
- Engine
- Continental R-670-6A, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 2023
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 3VA3 · Flying Circus Aerodrome, runway 22, 2,500 × 200 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- HWY, 2 nm away
- METAR
- KHWY 202335Z AUTO 17003KT 10SM CLR 29/15 A3009 RMK AO2 T02910145
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 16, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 50.3 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.
Other investigations on N39721 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.