Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Arlington Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Arlington, Washington 98223
Tuesady, July 23, 2002 13:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot, who purchased the aircraft on the day prior to the accident, and who had never flown this make and model biplane before, initiated the solo flight in an attempt to familiarize himself with the aircraft's flight characteristics. He successfully completed two touch-and-go landings, and was on his third attempt when the accident occurred. According to the pilot, he performed a wheel landing (touchdown on the main gear only), and had just lowered the tailwheel to the runway surface when the aircraft began to veer to the left. The pilot applied right rudder and ultimately right brake, but he was unable to correct the swerve/veer in time to keep the aircraft from turning further to the left. As the aircraft continued to turn toward the left side of the runway, the primary tubing structure of both right main gear legs failed, and the aircraft settled to the runway. In a post-accident telephone conversation, the pilot said that he felt he had not taken sufficient corrective action soon enough, and that by the time he applied full right rudder and applied the brake, the aircraft had veered to a point where it could not be realigned with the runway. There was no indication of any malfunction of the flight controls or of the tailwheel steering system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate remedial action when responding to the swerve/veer of the tailwheel equipped aircraft, leading to a failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll. Factors include the pilot’s lack of experience in the make and model aircraft (less than one hour).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/23/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Arlington |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98223 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 480906N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1220905W |
| Event Location Airport | Arlington Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AWO |
| 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 | 137 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KAWO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 137 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12901 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 23 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1415 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 15 2003 4:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N656K |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA136 |
| 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 | Stearman |
| Aircraft Model | C3-R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5007 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2750 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 18 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3 |
| Airframe Hours | 650 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Thomas N. Buffaloe |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | New Orleans |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70116 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | AWO |
| Departure City | Arlington |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | AWO |
| 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 | Dec 2 2002 2:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 5300 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |