- Date
- September 3, 1999, 12:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Brady, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N3865VCessna 170A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990903044689A
- Case key
- 47280
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 clearance from a dirt bank.
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 misjudged his speed and distance from a dirt mound during taxi after landing, and the airplane's left main landing gear and wing impacted the dirt mound.
Factual narrative
On September 3, 1999, at 1215 central daylight time, a Cessna 170A tail-wheel equipped airplane, N3865V, was substantially damaged when it impacted a dirt mound while taxiing at the Curtis Field Airport near Brady, Texas. The commercial pilot, who was the owner and operator of the airplane and 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 personal flight. The flight originated from the Eastland Municipal Airport, Eastland, Texas, at 1120.
According to the pilot, the asphalt runway at Curtis Field Airport was under construction and there were dirt mounds adjacent to it, therefore, he elected to land on the grass runway. The pilot stated that as he was taxiing off of the grass runway, he misjudged his distance and speed, and the airplane impacted one of the dirt mounds with the left main landing gear and left wing.
The FAA inspector, who visited the accident site, stated that the left main landing gear attachment assembly was structurally damaged, and the left wing spar was bent up outboard of the wing flap.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3865V
- Reported as
- Cessna 170A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18752
- Airframe hours
- 4,904
- Engine
- Continental C145-2, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jean F. Williams
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 16, 1999 · 90 hours before
- Departed
- ETN · Eastland, TX
- Destination
- BBD
- Airport
- BBD · Curtis Field, runway 26, 3,520 × 110 ft, grass/turf
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
- 79
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total · 1,500 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SJT, 60 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.