Waco UPF-7 N32039

Summary

On 1 October 2002 at about 20:30 local time, a Waco UPF-7 registered N32039 was involved in an accident near Owatonna, Minnesota, 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

1 October 2002 at 20:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Owatonna, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Owatonna Muni (OWA)

Coordinates

44.1233, -93.2606

Aircraft

Waco UPF-7

Registration

N32039

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Owatonna → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI03LA034

Nobody was injured.

The remedial action not performed by the certified flight instructor (CFI) during the bounced landing and directional control not maintained during the go-around by CFI. Contributing factors were the CFIs preflight planning/preparation in placing the dual student in the rear seat, the limited ability for visual detection from the rear seat, and the lack of instructional experience of the CFI in the make and model of the accident airplane. The gusts and crosswind were additional factors.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The instructional flight resulted in substantial damage to the airplane during a go-around from a bounced landing when it veered off runway 30, impacted the runway's precision approach path indicator light unit, and nosed over in a ditch. The wind was from 360 degrees at 14 knots gusting to 18 knots. The dual student was receiving tailwheel training from a certified flight instructor (CFI), which began earlier in the day in a Champion 7ECA and transitioned to a Waco UPF-7, which was owned by the CFI. The fourth flight of the day was to serve as a transition for landing on a hard surface runway in the Waco UPF-7. The first landing on the hard surface runway was reported as successful. The second landing resulted in a bounced landing followed by a go-around. The third landing resulted in a bounced landing followed by a go-around attempt at which point there was a reported transfer of controls to the CFI. The Waco UPF-7 was described in a publication as having little visibility straight ahead. The publication suggested that CFIs have at least 20 hours in the specific model of tailwheel airplane in which they want to give instruction in. All of the flights were accomplished with the CFI occupying the front seat and the dual student in the rear seat. The CFI reported a total flight time of 17 hours as instructor in Waco UPF-7 airplanes, of which about 3 hours were accumulated on the day of the accident. The dual student had a tailwheel endorsement and accumulated total flight time 2.7 hours in the accident airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.