- Date
- June 2, 2002, 12:05 local (16:05 UTC)
- Place
- Toughkenamon, PA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N60812Boeing Stearman A75N1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 18, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 54837
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 while landing, a factor was the gusting wind conditions.
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
According to the pilot, he was instructed by personnel on the ground to side-step, and land on a grass strip located to the left of the runway. After touching down on the grass, a wind gust raised the right wing, and the airplane veered off the left side of the runway. The airplane then impacted trees, and came to rest upright. The winds recorded at a nearby airport, about the time of the accident, were from 280 degrees, at 21 knots, with gusts to 27 knots.
Factual narrative
On June 2, 2002, about 1205 eastern daylight time, a Boeing Stearman A75N1, N60812, was substantially damaged while landing at the New Garden Airport (N57), Toughkenamon, Pennsylvania. The certificated private pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the pilot, he was on approach for runway 24, a 3,659-foot-long asphalt strip, when he was instructed by personnel on the ground to side-step, and land on a grass strip located to the left of the runway. After touching down on the grass, a wind gust raised the right wing, and the airplane veered off the left side of the runway. The airplane then impacted trees, and came to rest upright.
Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed damage to the top and bottom of the left wing, and the left wing spar. The airplane also sustained damage to the propeller and engine cooling fins.
The pilot did not report any mechanical problems with the airplane.
A weather observation, recorded at an airport 13 miles to the northwest of N57, included wind from 280 degrees, at 21 knots with gusts to 27 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N60812
- Reported as
- Boeing Stearman A75N1
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 42-15594/75-3783
- Airframe hours
- 3,055
- Engine
- Continental R670, 220 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Charles J. Gilligan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 28, 2002 · 18 hours before
- Departed
- OXB · Ocean City, MD
- Destination
- N57 · Toughkenamon, PA
- Airport
- N57 · New Garden Airport, runway 24, 3,659 × 50 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- October 18, 2001
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 848 total · 320 in this make and model · 848 as pilot in command · 22 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 21 knots, gusting 27
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.62 inHg
- Observed at
- ILG, 12 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 5, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 353 KB in all.
Other investigations on N60812 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.