Piper PA-22-135 N3329A

Summary

On 14 September 1999 at about 18:00 local time, a Piper PA-22-135 registered N3329A was involved in an accident near Greeley, Colorado, 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

14 September 1999 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Greeley, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Greeley-Weld County (GXY)

Coordinates

40.4401, -104.6703

Aircraft

Piper PA-22-135

Registration

N3329A

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Larned → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN99LA162

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadvertent ground loop during landing roll. Factors were the malfunctioning self centering locking device on the tail wheel, the right rear quartering tail wind, and the 3 to 4 inch high berm along the edge of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said that he was landing on runway 35 with a right quartering tailwind of 6 knots. The landing appeared normal until about 40 to 45 knots when the airplane began drifting to the left of centerline. He said that he corrected the airplane back to the centerline, and then it suddenly ground looped to the right. The pilot said that there was a 3 to 4 inch high dirt berm along the side of the runway. He said that when his left main landing gear and tail wheel impacted this berm, they folded under the airplane. He further stated that the rubber skid marks on the runway indicated that the tail wheel was oscillating, or shimmying. The maintenance person who recovered the airplane said that the self-centering tail wheel locking device was 'well lubricated,' which is what the maintenance manual calls for. He said the aerial application pilots that fly airplanes with similar tail wheel self-centering devices always instruct him not to lubricate their self-centering devices when he performs maintenance on their aircraft. They told him that it was easier to land in a crosswind when their tail wheel self-centering devices were dry.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.