Piper PA-18-150 N4785F

Summary

On 8 July 2000 at about 16:00 local time, a Piper PA-18-150 registered N4785F was involved in an accident near Erie, Colorado, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 July 2000 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Erie, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Tri-County Airport (48V)

Coordinates

40.0202, -105.0398

Aircraft

Piper PA-18-150

Registration

N4785F

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Boulder → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN00LA126

Nobody was injured.

Aircraft control was not possible by the flight instructor due to the inadequate maintenance adjustment of the tail wheel steering system by maintenance personnel. Factors were the inadequate aircraft preflight by the second pilot who was receiving a recurrency check ride, and the inadequate supervision, of the second pilot who was performing the preflight, by the flight instructor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot receiving instruction performed a three-point landing, and the airplane bounced. The airplane immediately veered to the right following the second touchdown. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and applied full left rudder; the airplane exited the right side of the runway and ground looped. Postaccident examination of the tail wheel steering assembly revealed that the two chains/springs that controlled the tail wheel steering had an estimated 1 1/2 inches of slack in them. The steering chain was being held together by a 'carabiner.' A maintenance person said that the chains and springs connected to the tail wheel steering assembly 'should be tight enough to give the pilot positive steering control.' The maintenance records indicate that the airplane had accumulated approximately 4 flight hours since major rebuild.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.