Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Simsbury Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Simsbury, Connecticut 06070
Thursday, July 12, 2001 7:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the CFI, the private pilot was executing touch and go's on runway 03. During the third landing, after touchdown, the airplane's tailwheel began to "chatter." The airplane started to veer to the right and did not respond to left rudder or brake inputs by the CFI, who had taken over the controls. The airplane then departed the right side of the runway and nosed over. Examination of the airplane revealed that the high and low frequency anti-shimmy compression springs on the tailwheel assembly "had slack." The "slack" allowed for about 2 inches of rudder movement before the compression springs became effective. Review of the airplane's maintenance records revealed that it had seven annual inspections performed after the installation of the tailwheel assembly. The most recent annual inspection was conducted about four months prior to the accident, and the airplane had accumulated about 15 hours of operation since. According to FAA regulations, Appendix D of Part 43, Scope And Detail Of Items To Be Included In Annual And 100-Hour Inspections, each person performing an annual or 100-hour inspection shall inspect all units of the landing gear group for poor condition and insecurity of attachment. The winds reported at a nearby airport, about the time of the accident, were from 320 degrees at 10 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The second pilot's failure to maintain directional control while landing. Factors related to the accident were the crosswind conditions, the loose tailwheel assembly, the CFI's delayed remedial action, and the inadequate annual inspection procedures by maintenance personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/12/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 745 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Simsbury |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06070 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Simsbury Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4B9 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 195 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 751 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BDL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 173 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.76 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11834 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NEROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 12 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1102 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2002 9:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FSDO-03 Windsor Locks |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4418U |
| NTSB Number | NYC01LA170 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Taylorcraft |
| Aircraft Model | F21B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1518 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 4 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 15 |
| Airframe Hours | 453 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Flying Wolf Ltd. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 Silverside Rd. Suite 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4B9 |
| Departure City | Simsbury |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 715 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 4B9 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2002 4:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 03 |
| Runway Length | 2205 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |