- Date
- July 1, 2024, 15:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Tacoma, WA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4402BCessna 170B
- 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 FSDO
- Case key
- 194598
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.
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 checked the weather prior to landing the tailwheel-equipped airplane and noted variable winds. He planned for 3-point landing, and shortly before touchdown the stall warning sounded. The airplane touched down in a 3-point attitude and began to veer to the right. He applied corrective control inputs with the rudder, aileron, and brakes but the airplane departed the right side of the runway and ground looped. The airplane sustained substantial damage to left wing and elevator, as well as the lower forward fuselage structure. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4402B
- Reported as
- Cessna 170B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 26746
- Built
- 1955
- Airframe hours
- 2,522
- Engine
- Continental O-300, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 23, 2024 · 16 hours before
- Departed
- 05S · Vernonia, OR
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- TIW · Tacoma Narrows, runway 17/35, 5,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B, Handheld GPS
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
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 15, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 13,216 total · 3 in this make and model · 7,827 as pilot in command · 176 in the last 90 days · 66 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KTIW, 2 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KTIW 012253Z VRB04KT 10SM BKN065 24/15 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP206 T02440150=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 12, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.5 MB in all.