- Date
- January 10, 1998, 10:32 local (17:32 UTC)
- Place
- Leadville, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5275XChampion 7KCAB
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980110002759A
- Case key
- 20515
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 failure of the pilot to maintain directional control of the airplane. Factors were a sudden windshift from a headwind to a quartering tailwind, and the snowbank.
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 was practicing full stop landings on runway 16. The wind was from 150 degrees at 5 knots. During the last landing rollout, the wind direction changed to a quartering tailwind. The aircraft veered to the right side of runway 16, struck a snowbank, and nosed over. The vertical fin, propeller, rudder, left wing, and engine mount were damaged.
Factual narrative
On January 10, 1998, at 1032 mountain standard time, a Champion 7KCAB (Citabria), N5275X, was substantially damaged during landing roll at Lake County Airport, Leadville, Colorado. The private pilot, the sole occupant in the airplane, was not injured. The airplane was owned and being operated by the pilot under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local personal flight which originated approximately 32 minutes before the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
According to the pilot's accident report, he was practicing full stop landings on runway 16. The winds were from 150 degrees at 5 knots. During the last landing rollout, the wind direction changed to a quartering tailwind. The pilot said the aircraft "drifted suddenly to the west [right] side of runway 16. A 2-3 foot snowbank was struck which stopped the aircraft, raising it over on its back."
Postaccident examination of the aircraft revealed that the vertical fin, propeller, rudder, left wing, and engine mount were damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5275X
- Reported as
- Champion 7KCAB
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 177
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Bradley V. Dry
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 1997 · 25 hours before
- Departed
- LXV
- Airport
- LXV · Lake County Airport, runway 16, 6,400 × 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
- 31
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 154 total · 32 in this make and model · 107 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 21 °F, dew point 12 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LXV
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.