- Date
- October 27, 2023, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Rangeley, ME
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3910MPiper PA-12
- 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
- 20231027017999A
- Case key
- 193321
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 the landing roll with a crosswind, after the right tailwheel spring separated.
Findings · 4
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 tailwheel equipped airplane veered to the left during the landing roll and nosed over when the pilot attempted to correct by utilizing the airplane’s brakes. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The right tailwheel spring was found disconnected. Subsequent inspection of the right tail-wheel spring revealed tooling marks, and that the attachment loop had been closed back towards its original radius. When asked about the tooling marks on the separated spring, the pilot/owner suggested they may have occurred during a previous annual inspection or “when it fell off a few years ago when I had a bad tailwheel shimmy.” At the time of the accident, the pilot was landing the airplane on runway 32 with wind from 250° at 5 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3910M
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-2808
- Built
- 1947
- Airframe hours
- 3,238.3
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, 108 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 3, 2023 · 25.8 hours before
- Departed
- OWK · Norridgewock, ME
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 8B0 · Stephen A Bean Muni, runway 32, 4,299 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 61
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 9, 2023
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,370 total · 252 in this make and model · 2,370 as pilot in command · 28 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- 8B0
- METAR
- K8B0 271835Z AUTO 25005KT 10SM SCT060 SCT080 BKN100 18/13 A2998 RMK AO2=
Docket · 7
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 10, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 10.9 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.