- Date
- March 28, 2002, 15:15 local (23:15 UTC)
- Place
- Friday Harbor, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1810PPiper PA-22
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 8, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA-FSDO, NTSB
- FAA report
- 20020328006419I
- Case key
- 54450
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 failure of the brake system during the landing roll. An intentional ground loop and a dirt bank were factors.
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 reported that after touchdown, and during the landing roll, he applied the brake to make the airplane turn to the right. The pilot stated that the right brake did not hold and the aircraft veered to the left. The pilot could not get the airplane to turn back to the right and seeing that the airplane was traveling toward a bank, he applied hard left brake and intentionally ground-looped the aircraft. During the ground loop maneuver, the right wing was substantially damaged.
Factual narrative
On March 28, 2002, approximately 1515 Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-22 airplane, N1810P, was substantially damaged after the aircraft ran off the runway at Friday Harbor, Washington. The private pilot, who owned the airplane and was its sole occupant at the time, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions were reported at Friday Harbor at 1453, and no flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight.
In a written statement, the pilot reported that he was landing on runway 16. The aircraft touched down and during the landing roll, the pilot applied the brake to make the airplane turn to the right. The pilot stated that the right brake did not hold and the aircraft veered to the left. The pilot could not get the airplane to turn back to the right and seeing that the airplane was traveling toward a bank, he applied hard left brake and intentionally ground-looped the aircraft. During the ground loop maneuver, the right wing was substantially damaged.
Friday Harbor has a single, paved north-south runway, 16-34, 3,400 feet long and 75 feet wide. Winds at Friday Harbor were reported as being from 250 degrees true at 6 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1810P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-22
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-2589
- Airframe hours
- 1,879
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Robert W. Starr
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2002 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- BVS · Burlington, WA
- Destination
- FHR · Friday Harbor, WA
- Airport
- FHR · Friday Harbor, runway 16, 3,400 × 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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- August 20, 2001
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,198 total · 479 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,100 ft broken
- Temperature
- 43 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.28 inHg
- Observed at
- FHR
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 23, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 281 KB 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.
Other investigations on N1810P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.