- Date
- November 28, 2007, 14:33 local (19:33 UTC)
- Place
- Latrobe, PA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N103JTVans RV-8
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Allegheny County
- FAA report
- 20071128827989A
- Case key
- 67176
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 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
On his third landing of the day, the pilot of an amateur built Vans RV-8 touched down, in a tail low attitude, near the displaced runway threshold. The airplane began to veer left and right, so the pilot applied power and climbed to an altitude of 30 to 50 feet. The airplane then rolled and turned left before it overflew the left edge of the runway and parallel taxiway, while continuing to turn past a heading perpendicular to the runway centerline. The airplane continued the left turn, in an approximate 30-degree bank, and began to descend toward a low wetland adjacent to the runway. The aircraft struck the ground left wingtip first, and the left wing and left main gear separated from the airframe. The airplane then cartwheeled counterclockwise coming to rest upright on the right main landing gear and forward fuselage. This was the pilot's second incident in an RV-8. Approximately one year prior to the accident, in a different RV-8, the pilot also experienced a loss of control while practicing landings, during which the airplane veered off the left side of the runway and struck a taxiway light.
Factual narrative
On his third landing of the day, the pilot of an amateur built Vans RV-8 touched down, in a tail low attitude, near the displaced runway threshold. The airplane began to veer left and right, so the pilot applied power and climbed to an altitude of 30 to 50 feet. The airplane then rolled and turned left before it overflew the left edge of the runway and parallel taxiway, while continuing to turn past a heading perpendicular to the runway centerline. The airplane continued the left turn, in an approximate 30-degree bank, and began to descend toward a low wetland adjacent to the runway. The aircraft struck the ground left wingtip first, and the left wing and left main gear separated from the airframe. The airplane then cartwheeled counterclockwise coming to rest upright on the right main landing gear and forward fuselage. Review of Federal Aviation Administration records revealed that the accident flight was the pilot's second incident in an RV-8. Approximately one year prior to the accident, in a different RV-8, the pilot also experienced a loss of control while practicing landings, during which the airplane veered off the left side of the runway and struck a taxiway light.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N103JT
- Reported as
- Vans RV-8
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 80580
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 hp, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- LBE · Latrobe, PA
- Destination
- LBE
- Airport
- LBE · Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, runway 23, 8,500 × 100 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
- 60
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 475 total · 3 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.32 inHg
- Observed at
- LBE
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.