- Date
- August 6, 1997, 09:45 local (16:45 UTC)
- Place
- Pacoima, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N76102Cessna 140
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 10, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970806023319A
- Case key
- 29863
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 landing.
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
After landing the pilot attempted to correct his runway alignment. He raised the tail for better control of the aircraft and ground looped to the left, then subsequently nosed over.
Factual narrative
On August 6, 1997, at 0945 hours Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 140, N76102, ground looped during the landing rollout on runway 12 and nosed over at the Whiteman Airport, Pacoima, California. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The pilot/owner and passenger were not injured. Visual meterological conditions existed for the local personal flight and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the Whiteman Airport at 0920.
An Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector from the Van Nuys, California, Flight Standards District Office, reported that on the landing rollout the pilot attempted to correct his runway alignment and raised the tail for better control, and that the pilot may have "touched brakes." The aircraft ground looped to the left and nosed over, coming to rest on it's back. An FAA inspector examined the aircraft and no mechanical discrepancies were found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N76102
- Reported as
- Cessna 140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 10499
- Engine
- Continental C85, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Solomon A. Bruck
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- WHP · CA
- Airport
- WHP · Whiteman, runway 12, 4,120 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 850 total · 820 in this make and model · 810 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 100 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- WHP
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.