Taylorcraft BC-12D N43715

Summary

On 12 May 2015 at about 11:40 local time, a Taylorcraft BC-12D registered N43715 was involved in an accident near Inverness, Florida, United States. One person was 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

12 May 2015 at 11:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Inverness, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Inverness (INF)

Coordinates

28.8036, -82.3183

Aircraft

Taylorcraft BC-12D

Registration

N43715

Category

Airplane

Year built

1946

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Inverness → Inverness

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15LA214

Nobody was injured.

A disconnection of the tailwheel steering mechanism during landing, which resulted in the pilot’s loss of directional control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After an uneventful preflight inspection and flight around the local area, the private pilot returned to the departure airport to practice touch-and-go landings in the tailwheel-equipped airplane. The first two practice landings were uneventful; during the third landing roll, the pilot felt a vibration originating from the tailwheel that rapidly increased in intensity before the airplane suddenly veered to the left. The pilot attempted to compensate by applying full rudder control to the right, but the airplane continued to the left, departed the runway, struck a taxiway sign, and pitched nose down, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane's tailwheel revealed that the steering mechanism components connecting the tailwheel to the rudder had disconnected. Although a spring was recovered from the runway after the accident, the remaining hardware components were not recovered. Given this information, it is likely that the tailwheel steering mechanism became disconnected at some point during the landing and ultimately resulted in the pilot's inability to maintain directional control of the airplane. Because some of the steering mechanism components were not recovered, the reason for the disconnection could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.