Air Cowboy Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Krum, Texas 76249
Thursday, September 7, 2006 13:00 CDT

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.

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.