North American SNJ-5 N9013A

Summary

On 17 April 1997 at about 16:36 local time, a North American SNJ-5 registered N9013A was involved in an accident near Mesa, Arizona, 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

17 April 1997 at 16:36

Classification

Accident

Location

Mesa, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Falcon Field (FFZ)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

North American SNJ-5

Registration

N9013A

Category

Airplane

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

LAX97LA162

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate compensation for the crosswind condition, and his failure to maintain directional control during landing. Factors related to the accident were: the crosswind, and the pilot's inadvertent unlocking of the tail wheel during a wheel landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that there were buildings adjacent to the runway that occluded the surface wind such that there was no apparent crosswind at touchdown. However, as the tail wheel came down, wind from between the buildings caused the airplane to swerve suddenly to the right and depart the runway surface into soft dirt, where the right main gear dug in and broke off. He further stated that in this model, the tail wheel unlocks by pushing the control stick forward. Since a wheel landing was made, he thought that he may have pushed the stick forward enough to unlock the tail wheel and then did not get it back into the relock range before encountering the sudden onset of the crosswind.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.