- Date
- June 9, 2015, 11:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Bakersfield, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8372Grumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G 164A
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 27, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA Fresno FSDO
- FAA report
- 20150609011329A
- Case key
- 91339
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, resulting in a runway excursion, and a collision with terrain.
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 pilot reported that during the landing roll, a right quartering tailwind pushed the tail to the left, the airplane exited the dirt strip to the right, where the lower right wing of the bi-plane struck an embankment. The airplane collided with a ditch and nosed over, sustaining substantial damage to both the upper and lower left wings. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during the landing roll, a right quartering tailwind pushed the tail to the left, the airplane exited the dirt strip to the right, where the lower right wing of the bi-plane struck an embankment. The airplane collided with a ditch and nosed over, sustaining substantial damage to both the upper and lower left wings. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8372
- Reported as
- Grumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G 164A (A)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 866
- Built
- 1971
- Airframe hours
- 6,082.39
- Engine
- Pratt and Whitney R-1340-AN1, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Nelson Kenneth D
- Registered owner
- Nelson Kenneth D
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 29, 2015 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- MIT · Shafter, CA
- Destination
- MIT · Shafter, CA
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2014
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 2,000 total · 366 in this make and model · 1,800 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.79 inHg
- Observed at
- KBFL, 17 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 10, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.8 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 N8372 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.