Van's RV-7A N729CM

Summary

On 16 September 2007 at about 19:00 local time, a Van's RV-7A registered N729CM was involved in an accident near Vernon, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 September 2007 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Vernon, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Wilbarger County Airport (F05)

Coordinates

34.2317, -99.2789

Aircraft

Van's RV-7A

Registration

N729CM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Fort Worth

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW07CA200

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane while landing. A contributing factor was the prevailing tailwind.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 603-hour private pilot lost control of the homebuilt airplane while landing with a tailwind. The pilot, who was also the builder of the airplane, stated on the NTSB form 6120.1 (Pilot/Operator Accident/Incident Report) that during her first attempt to land, she "was getting strong wind gusts and about the time she flared the airplane, a strong wind gust shot me 50 feet in the air." The pilot then applied power and regained runway alignment and came around for a second landing attempt on Runway 02. The pilot reported that her second landing attempt resulted in a hard landing. When the nose gear contacted the ground the pilot encountered "a bad shimmy and when it settled I knew I did not have control of the airplane." Following the loss of control, the airplane was reported to have turned sharply to the right, nosed over and came to rest in the inverted position. The wind at the time of the mishap was reported from 200 degrees at 12 knots, gusting to 19 knots. The pilot added that she had noted during Unicom radio traffic that the landing traffic was to Runway 20 and she mistakenly landed to Runway 02.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.