American Champion 7GCBC N53SE

Summary

On 20 July 2006 at about 23:35 local time, a American Champion 7GCBC registered N53SE, operated by Wayne E. Handley, was involved in an accident near Greenfield, California, 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

20 July 2006 at 23:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Greenfield, California, United States

Coordinates

36.3333, -121.2500

Aircraft

American Champion 7GCBC

Registration

N53SE

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Wayne E. Handley

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Greenfield → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06CA241

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions and failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The tail wheel equipped airplane ground looped and nosed over when it encountered a gust of wind during the landing roll on unimproved terrain. The pilot conducted a touch-and-go on a ridgeline and said that after experiencing no problems he became "over confident" and elected to conduct a full stop landing. During the landing roll, when the airplane was below 5 miles per hour, a gust of wind lifted the left wing. The pilot applied power and attempted to correct for the gust of wind, but lacked the control authority due to the reduced speed. The right wing tip contacted the ground and the airplane rotated to the right. The airplane nosed down exposing the bottom of the fuselage to the wind, which blew the airplane over onto its topside. The pilot reported the wind at 20 knots with gusts.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.