Piper PA-J3-C65 N7744B

Summary

On 9 July 2002 at about 20:00 local time, a Piper PA-J3-C65 registered N7744B was involved in an accident near Sparta, Illinois, 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

9 July 2002 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Sparta, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Sparta Community Airport (SAR)

Coordinates

38.1489, -89.6986

Aircraft

Piper PA-J3-C65

Registration

N7744B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sparta → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI02CA250

Nobody was injured.

The CFI's failure to maintain directional control during landing roll and the unsuccessful attempt at a go around. A factor was the ditch.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial damage when it impacted a ditch during landing roll. The CFI reported that the flight was an introductory tail wheel instructional flight. He reported, "Student pilot flew aircraft under my direction through several flight maneuvers for initial orientation. He also approached the airport for our initial landing on runway 27 at SAR. Upon turning final for the runway I took full control of the aircraft to demonstrate a 3 point landing. All went well until aircraft started an uncontrollable right turn on the runway. I applied full opposite control but was unable to recover so I chose to initiate a go around but could not gain flying speed before encountering a drainage ditch adjacent to the runway. Power was removed and aircraft was damaged in the drainage ditch."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.