- Date
- March 28, 2017, 16:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Stevensville, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N13XZThomas Craig E Wittman W-10
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20170328002539A
- Case key
- 94943
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 decision to take off with a known master brake cylinder leak and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control during landing.
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 of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, after landing at an airport along his route, he observed a leak from the left master brake cylinder. He added that he "wiped up [a] considerable [amount of] brake fluid from the floorboard," conducted a "thorough inspection" of the left brake, and then departed for another airport. He further reported that, during the landing roll, the airplane weathervaned into the crosswind, and he applied "full rudder and [the] application of brake found no brake available." He added that, after pumping the brakes, they began to function. The airplane veered off the runway to the right, and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, after landing at an airport along his route, he observed a leak from the left master brake cylinder. He added that he "wiped up [a] considerable [amount of] brake fluid from the floorboard", did a "thorough inspection" of the left brake, and then departed for another airport. He further reported that, during the landing roll at the accident airport, the airplane weathervaned into the crosswind, and he applied "full rudder and [the] application of brake found no brake available". After pumping the brake, he added that, they began to function. The airplane veered off the runway to the right and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N13XZ
- Reported as
- Thomas Craig E Wittman W-10 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 975
- Built
- 2015
- Airframe hours
- 46
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · February 13, 2017
- Departed
- 23S · Seeley Lake, MT
- Destination
- 32S · Stevensville, MT
- Airport
- 32S · Stevensville, runway 12, 3,800 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 22, 2015
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 1,125.9 total · 49 in this make and model · 43.9 in the last 90 days · 2.1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- KMSO, 24 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 7, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.9 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.