Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Camarillo Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Camarillo, California 93010
Sunday, July 15, 2007 8:14 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was making his first supervised solo flight in the same airplane that he received 31.5 hours of dual instruction in the 47 days preceding the accident. The flight instructor who provided the training witnessed the accident and reported that the pilot performed a "normal" takeoff followed by a left pattern to runway 26 with a "normal tail low wheel landing." He noted that as the airplane made contact with the ground, the pilot "had not pulled his throttle back to idle, as the noise level of the engine appeared greater than idle." After rolling 50 to 100 feet, the tail appeared to rise slightly, indicating the pilot was applying slight forward stick to pin the airplane to the ground. This was followed quickly by the rapid lowering of the tail to the point where the tailwheel struck the ground with a "loud bang noise." The airplane then "leaped back into the air" and the pilot applied takeoff power. The airplane pitched nose high and rolled left to the inverted position consistent with a torque induced roll. The upper surface of the left wing contacted the ground first, followed by the propeller and the canopy. The instructor expressed the opinion that the pilot "failed to successfully execute a standard go-around procedure after experiencing unexpected flight due to the lowering of the tail prematurely with power still on after touchdown."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during a go-around. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of experience in the make and model of airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/15/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 814 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Camarillo |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93010 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341250N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1190540W |
| Event Location Airport | Camarillo |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CMA |
| 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 | 77 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 755 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CMA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 77 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.96 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23605 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 15 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 28 2008 12:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Van Nuys, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N51TK |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA196 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | North American |
| Aircraft Model | F-51D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 44-63350 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10100 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Defiance Aviation LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 333 Wall St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ketchum |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83340 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | John M. McKittrick |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Thousand Oaks |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CMA |
| Departure City | Camarillo |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 808 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CMA |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 5 2008 8:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 6013 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |