North American F-51D N51TK

Summary

On 15 July 2007 at about 15:14 local time, a North American F-51D registered N51TK was involved in an accident near Camarillo, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 July 2007 at 15:14

Classification

Accident

Location

Camarillo, California, United States

Nearest airport

Camarillo (CMA)

Coordinates

34.2139, -119.0944

Aircraft

North American F-51D

Registration

N51TK

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Camarillo → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA07LA196

1 person died.

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.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

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."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.