- Date
- August 18, 1994, 10:58 local (16:58 UTC)
- Place
- Hailey, ID
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7789PPiper PA-18-150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 26, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 42002
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 inadequate compensation for wind conditions. A factor to the accident was a tailwind.
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 a landing was made with a left quartering tailwind of approximately six knots. During the landing roll, everything was normal for the first 100 feet; however, the pilot stated that the wind suddenly increased and he was unable to maintain control of the airplane as it ground looped to the left and ran off the runway.
Factual narrative
On August 18, 1994, at 1058 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA- 18-150, N7789P, ground looped after landing at the Freidman Memorial Airport, Hailey, Idaho. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged and the commercial pilot and his passenger were not injured. The personal flight had departed from Galena, Idaho, on August 18, 1994, at 1030.
The pilot reported that a landing was made on runway 31 with a left quartering tailwind that the control tower reported as five to six knots. During the landing roll, the pilot stated that everything was normal for the first 100 feet, then the tailwind increased to approximately ten knots. The pilot was unable to maintain control as the airplane ground looped, collapsing the right main landing gear and damaging the right wing.
At 1100, the control tower reported that the winds were from 180 degrees at five knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7789P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7835
- Airframe hours
- 3,299
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Munson, Russell W.
- Registered owner
- Munson, Russell W.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 10, 1993 · 178 hours before
- Departed
- U87 · Galena, ID
- Airport
- SUN · Friedman Memorial, runway 31, 6,602 × 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
- 56
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,504 total · 2,368 in this make and model · 3,420 as pilot in command · 90 in the last 90 days · 34 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SUN