- Date
- October 15, 2022, 14:33 local (21:33 UTC)
- Place
- Petaluma, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N42PTBoeing A75N1(PT17)
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20221015017619A
- Case key
- 106138
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 in gusting wind.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during landing roll, he let “the control column go to a neutral position” after touchdown, and a gust of wind raised the left wing. The airplane veered off the runway to the right, subsequently colliding with a windsock and coming to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N42PT
- Reported as
- Boeing A75N1(PT17)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 75-8387
- Built
- 1942
- Engine
- Jacobs R-755B2M, 275 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 3, 2022
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- O69 · Petaluma Muni, runway 29, 3,600 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 3, 2022
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 6,384 total · 395 in this make and model · 6,152 as pilot in command · 105 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.90 inHg
- Observed at
- KDVO
- METAR
- METAR KDVO 151935Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM OVC020 20/13 A2990 RMK AO2
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 30, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.2 MB 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.