- Date
- August 3, 1996, 12:05 local (19:05 UTC)
- Place
- Douglas, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1616ZLuscombe 8F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 16, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960803020679A
- Case key
- 29527
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 of the aircraft during the landing roll. A contributing factor was the pilot's inexperience in the type aircraft.
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 stated that he was making a full-stop landing with a reasonable quartering right crosswind of about 15 knots. During the landing roll, when he had slowed to about 30 knots, an unusual noise caused him to glance into the cockpit. When he looked up, the aircraft was veering to the left and he input right rudder and brake. The control input, together with the crosswind, resulted in over-correction and the aircraft ground looped to the right. The pilot had made about 13 landings in this aircraft type prior to the accident.
Factual narrative
On August 3, 1996 at 1205 hours mountain standard time, a Luscombe 8F, N1616Z, was substantially damaged during a ground loop while landing at Bisbee Douglas International Airport, Douglas, Arizona. The commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight which departed from Bisbee Municipal Airport, Bisbee, Arizona, at 1115.
The pilot told the NTSB investigator that he was planning to buy the aircraft and had made about 12 landings in it prior to the accident flight. At the time of the accident he was making his second full-stop landing of the flight on runway 17. There was a "reasonable" crosswind from the southwest about 15 knots. During the landing roll, when he had slowed to about 30 knots, he heard an unusual noise and glanced down to the engine instruments. When he looked up, the aircraft was veering to the left, so he input right rudder and brake. The pilot thinks that a gust of crosswind, together with his control input, caused him to over-correct to the right and the aircraft ground looped, collapsing the left main landing gear. He commented that he found the aircraft's heel brakes difficult to operate. The aircraft came to rest on the 150-foot-wide runway, about 2,000 feet from the threshold end, headed north.
A special weather observation taken at Bisbee Douglas at 1142 reported the wind was from 280 degrees at 10 knots, and a broken layer of towering cumulus clouds with bases at 4,000 feet. The remarks to the report included "towering cumulus overhead." The pilot told the NTSB investigator that in the minutes after the accident there was a rain shower and gusty wind.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1616Z
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- S-72
- Airframe hours
- 1,443
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- John A. Sylvester
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 28, 1995 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- P04 · Bisbee, AZ
- Destination
- DUG
- Airport
- DUG · Bisbee Douglas Int'L, runway 17, 7,292 × 150 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 62
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,673 total · 9 in this make and model · 18 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DUG
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.