W10 TAILWIND N456TW

Summary

On 31 May 2023 at about 15:30 local time, a W10 TAILWIND registered N456TW was involved in an accident near Penrose, Colorado, 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

31 May 2023 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Penrose, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Fremont County (1V6)

Coordinates

38.4316, -105.1127

Aircraft

W10 TAILWIND

Registration

N456TW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2007

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA211

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the right rudder pedal stop due to an inadequate weld, which resulted in a loss of control on the ground.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot, who was in the right seat, stated the left-seat pilot had just completed three uneventful full-stop landings, and then he took over the controls and was flying from the right seat. During the takeoff roll, he applied equal pressure to both rudder pedals. Suddenly, the right pedal broke forward, and the airplane veered off the left side of the runway. The left-seat pilot was unable to assist in controlling the airplane before it struck a berm. The airplane came to rest upright with the main landing gear collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage to the right side of the fuselage and engine mounts. Postaccident examination revealed that the right seat’s right rudder pedal stop, a U-shaped metal rod welded to the rudder pedal torque tube, broke at the weld, and the right pedal was beyond the normal forward limit. The weld appeared to have inadequate penetration into the base material, which resulted in a failure of the weld that allowed the rudder pedal to extend beyond the normal forward limit.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.