Piper PA-18-150 N83517

Summary

On 5 January 2002 at about 18:40 local time, a Piper PA-18-150 registered N83517 was involved in an accident near Reno, Nevada, United States. One person was 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

5 January 2002 at 18:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Reno, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Reno/Tahoe (RNO)

Coordinates

39.6672, -119.8711

Aircraft

Piper PA-18-150

Registration

N83517

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Reno → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA062

Nobody was injured.

The pilot failed to maintain directional control resulting in an inadvertent ground loop. A contributing factor was the tailwind.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane ground looped during routine pattern work. The pilot made one successful touch-and-go landing. About 300 feet from touchdown, he noticed he was experiencing a quartering left tailwind. He considered performing a wheel landing with partial flaps, but decided to make a full stall landing with full flaps. The touchdown was good, but during the landing roll the airplane began to veer to the right. He applied left rudder, but got no response. He then applied more left rudder and some left brake. The airplane immediately veered left at an angle of 45 degrees to the runway centerline. He reacted with right rudder and brake and the airplane turned to the right so that it was pointed 30 degrees to the right of the centerline. As the airplane reached the centerline, the airplane ground looped. The left axle broke and the left spar sustained substantial damage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.