Tubbs S/Performance Air PA18-225 N755K

Summary

On 20 August 2010 at about 16:40 local time, a Tubbs S/Performance Air PA18-225 registered N755K, operated by Rinah Levine, was involved in an accident near Denver, Colorado, 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 August 2010 at 16:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Denver, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Centennial (APA)

Coordinates

39.5686, -104.8428

Aircraft

Tubbs S/Performance Air PA18-225

Registration

N755K

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Rinah Levine

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Denver

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10CA488

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain 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 pilot reported that the tailwheel on her single-engine airplane had just undergone maintenance to alleviate a shimmy and was told to practice some touch-and-go landings to see if the problem had been alleviated. The pilot did several landings and said the shimmy had improved but was not completely gone. However, on the sixth landing, the pilot landed on the tailwheel, which resulted in an "extreme and violent" shimmy. The airplane veered to the right and the pilot tried to correct for it by applying pressure to just one brake. The airplane continued to veer off the runway, so the pilot applied both brakes and the airplane flipped over, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing strut and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical problems and that the accident could have been prevented if she kept the airplane on the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.