- Date
- September 10, 2016, 13:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sidney, MT
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8335ACessna 170
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 4, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20160910017139A
- Case key
- 94031
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 student pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a bounced landing, and the flight instructor’s inability to recover the airplane, which resulted in a runway excursion.
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 flight instructor reported that, during the instructional flight in a tailwheel-equipped airplane, the student pilot bounced the landing. The airplane bounced off the grass airstrip, and the flight instructor took the flight controls, but the airplane drifted to the left and into a drainage ditch. The flight instructor reported that he corrected with right rudder application to ease the airplane out of the ditch, but the left landing gear tire deflated, and the left wing and the tail struck the ground. The airplane yawed to the left, the instructor corrected the yaw, and the airplane rolled onto the runway and stopped. The left wing, left aileron, and the elevator sustained substantial damage. The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have prevented normal operation.
Factual narrative
The flight instructor reported that during the instructional flight in a tailwheel equipped airplane, the student pilot bounced the landing. The airplane bounced off the grass airstrip and the flight instructor reported that he took the flight controls, but the airplane drifted to the left and into a drainage ditch. The flight instructor reported that he corrected with right rudder application to ease the airplane out of the ditch, but the left landing gear tire deflated and the left wing and the tail struck the ground. The airplane yawed to the left, the instructor corrected the yaw and the airplane rolled onto the runway and stopped. The left wing, left aileron and the elevator sustained substantial damage. The flight instructor reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies prior to landing in the ditch that would have prevented normal flight operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8335A
- Reported as
- Cessna 170 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25187
- Built
- 1952
- Airframe hours
- 3,089
- Engine
- Continental C-145-2, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Frontier Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditionin
- Registered owner
- Frontier Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditionin
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 26, 2016
- Departed
- PO1 · Poplar, MT
- Destination
- SDY · Sidney, MT
- Airport
- SDY · Sidney-Richland Municipal Airp, runway 29, 4,024 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 8, 2014
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 50 in this make and model · 13,000 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 60 total · 6 in this make and model · 18 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KSDY, 1 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 16, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 418 KB 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.