American Champion (Acac) 7GCBC N515KG

Summary

On 5 August 2005 at about 22:00 local time, a American Champion (Acac) 7GCBC registered N515KG, operated by Wisconsin Aviation, was involved in an accident near Watertown, Wisconsin, 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

5 August 2005 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Watertown, Wisconsin, United States

Nearest airport

Watertown Municipal Airport (RYV)

Coordinates

43.1697, -88.7233

Aircraft

American Champion (Acac) 7GCBC

Registration

N515KG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Wisconsin Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Watertown → Watertown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI05CA219

Nobody was injured.

The flightcrew's failure to maintain directional control during landing rollout.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The tailwheel airplane veered off the runway during landing roll and impacted a muddy ditch. The pilot reported that after touchdown the airplane veered to the left and he used right rudder input in an attempt to realign with the runway centerline. The pilot stated that "next we were heading extreme right, I had a feeling the tailwheel was off the ground." The flight instructor stated that she was "talking [the pilot] through the landing, and also helping out with [control] stick movement." The flight instructor reported that after touchdown, as she began to bring the control stick aft the pilot pushed the control stick forward which elevated the tailwheel off the runway. The flight instructor stated that the pilot also "pushed right rudder" which turned the airplane "sideways." The flight instructor reported that she "immediately brought the [control] stick back and tried to correct the rudder." The flight instructor stated that the tailwheel came back down to the runway, but she was unable to "correct the rudder" because of "resistance." The flight instructor reported that she felt the pilot had "frozen on the controls." The flight instructor stated that the only thing she could do was "slam on the brakes" in an attempt to stop the airplane before it entered a ditch alongside the runway. The flight instructor reported that the "mud was so deep that the brakes were not effective and [airplane] kept sliding" into the ditch where it nosed over. The pilot had no experience in the accident airplane make/model prior to the accident flight. The flight instructor had approximately 20 hours in conventional (tailwheel) airplanes, of which 16.6 hours were in the accident airplane make/model.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.