- Date
- July 4, 2001, 10:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Mount Pleasant, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N220HPiper PA-18-150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 9, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20010704020549A
- Case key
- 52641
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 inadvertent ground loop during the landing roll. A contributing factor was his lack of total experience in tail wheel-equipped airplanes.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot had received tail wheel endorsement training earlier that day in the accident airplane. The pilot was performing his second solo landing on runway 17 when he ground looped the airplane. The pilot reported that the winds were from the south at 5 knots.
Factual narrative
On July 4, 2001, at 1030 central daylight time, a Piper PA-18-150 tail-wheel equipped airplane, N220H, was substantially damaged when it ground looped on landing at the Mount Pleasant Municipal Airport, Mount Pleasant, Texas. The airplane was registered to a private individual and operated by the pilot. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 solo instructional flight. The local flight departed Mount Pleasant at 1020.
According to the aircraft owner, the pilot had received tail wheel endorsement training earlier that day in the accident airplane. The pilot was performing his second solo landing on runway 17 when he ground looped the airplane. The pilot reported that the wind was from 180 at 5 knots at the time of the accident.
According to the aircraft owner and an aircraft mechanic, the right spar, outboard of the wing strut, was bent up.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N220H
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7709118
- Airframe hours
- 562
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Mark R. Elgin
- Registered owner
- Raymond Elgin
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 2001 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- MSA · Mount Pleasant, TX
- Airport
- MSA · Mount Pleasant Municipal, runway 17, 3,837 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- January 26, 2001
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 315 total · 2 in this make and model · 308 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.