Accident Details
During an instructional flight, the pilot handling the flight controls ground looped his airplane while landing on runway 31. Prior to the accident, the pilot had successfully performed a series of takeoffs and 3-point landings under the supervision of his flight instructor. However, a wind gust was encountered during the pilot's last landing. The pilot indicated that he was unable to maintain directional control, the airplane veered left, the right main landing gear collapsed, and the right wing contacted the runway surface and broke.
Weather Conditions
The flight instructor indicated that, at the time, the wind was from the southwest at 10 knots, with 15-knot gusts.
Pilot Experience
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate and had about 5,000 hours of flight time, but only about 2 hours in his recently purchased tail wheel equipped airplane.
Instructor Experience
The flight instructor, whom the pilot hired to check him out, had 3,469.7 hours of flight time. However, his flying experience in the accident airplane was 5 hours.
Runway Information
Runway 31 is 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide.