- Date
- May 5, 2018, 17:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Bayou La Batre, AL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N81FSYakovlev YAK 52
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 2018
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20180505004689A
- Case key
- 97275
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 improper planning for landing on a wet grass airstrip, which resulted in a runway overrun.
Findings · 6
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
According to the pilot in the experimental, exhibition airplane, he departed from a grass airstrip about 1 hour after a rain shower. After a 15-minute pleasure flight, he landed on the same wet grass airstrip. He reported that the airplane touched down about 700 ft past the 2,000-ft-long runway's threshold at 75 knots with full flaps and the trim set nose up. He applied the brakes multiple times, but the airplane overran the departure end of the runway. The airplane's groundspeed was about 13 knots when the right wing struck a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing aileron. In the recommendation section of the National Transportation Safety Board Pilot Aircraft Accident Report, the pilot asserted that the accident could have been prevented if he had taken into consideration "the reduced traction offered by the wet grass." The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot in the experimental exhibition airplane, he departed a grass airstrip about an hour after a rain shower. After a 15-minute pleasure flight, he landed on the same wet grass airstrip. He reported that the airplane touched down about 700ft past the runway threshold of the 2,000ft runway at 75 knots, with full flaps and the trim was set nose up. He applied the brakes multiple times, but the airplane overran the departure end of the runway. The airplane's ground speed was about 13 knots when the right wing struck a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing aileron. Per the National Transportation Safety Board, Pilot Aircraft Accident Report, in the Recommendation section, the pilot asserted that the accident could have been prevented if he had taken into consideration, "the reduced traction offered by the wet grass." The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N81FS
- Reported as
- Yakovlev YAK 52 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 9311704
- Built
- 1993
- Engine
- Vedeneyev M14P, 360 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Red Star Aero Services LLC.
- Registered owner
- Red Star Aero Services LLC.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- 5R7 · Bayou La Batre, AL
- Destination
- 5R7 · Bayou La Batre, AL
- Airport
- 5R7 · Roy E Ray, runway 36, 2,000 × 150 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 15, 2016
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 252.6 total · 40 in this make and model · 210 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KBFM, 13 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 17, 2018, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 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.