Bellanca 7GCBC N50340

Summary

On 7 September 2006 at about 18:00 local time, a Bellanca 7GCBC registered N50340, operated by MarcAir, was involved in an accident near Krum, Texas, 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

7 September 2006 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Krum, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Air Cowboy Airport (TE58)

Coordinates

33.3039, -97.3397

Aircraft

Bellanca 7GCBC

Registration

N50340

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

MarcAir

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Roanoke → Air Cowboy

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW06LA209

Nobody was injured.

The CFI's and ATP's inflight decision to land halfway down the runway and the ATP's delayed decision to abort the landing. A factor was the ATP's excessive airspeed on final.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 1,800-hour flight instructor and the 4,500-hour airline transport pilot (ATP), who was an FAA inspector, were practicing takeoffs and landings in a tail-wheel equipped single-engine airplane, when the airplane's left and right wing struts collided with a T-bar and wood fence post during an aborted landing. The ATP rented the airplane for the purpose of recurrency training under the provisions of the FAA's 4040.9D Flight Management Program. Prior to the flight, the inspector noted that the left brake pedal had excessive travel, but the instructor stated that there had not been any problems reported with the brakes. The inspector and instructor then flew to a private airport to practice takeoffs and landings on a 3,501-foot-long and 250-foot-wide turf runway. The inspector had never flown into this airport before. While on the first approach to landing, the inspector noted large birds on the runway so he executed a go-around and the birds dispersed. On the next approach to landing, he noted that the birds had returned to the runway. The flight instructor suggested that the inspector land beyond where the birds were located, which was about half-way down the runway. The inspector said he maintained an approach speed of 85 miles per hour (mph), which he later admitted was about 30 mph too fast. When the airplane touched down on the runway, he realized that it sloped downhill and he would not have enough runway length to stop. Plus, the left brake was not working properly, so he aborted the landing. The inspector added full power and began to climb; however, the right wing strut collided with a metal T-bar and a wooded fence post, which were obstructed by bushes. The pilot was able to maintain directional control of the airplane, but elected to return to the private airport and land. Examination of the airplane revealed the left and right wing struts were both damaged; however, the wood spar in the right wing was split about 2 to 3-inches. The ATP later reported that the airplane would have needed at least 2,000 feet of runway length to safely stop the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.