What happened
During an instructional flight, the pilot in command was performing a series of takeoffs and 3-point landings under the supervision of a flight instructor. While the pilot had successfully completed several maneuvers prior to the accident, a wind gust occurred during the final landing attempt on runway 31.
The pilot reported that he could not maintain directional control after encountering the gust. The airplane veered to the left, resulting in the collapse of the right main landing gear. Following the collapse, the right wing made contact with the runway surface and broke. At the time of the accident, the wind was reported as being from the southwest at 10 knots, with gusts reaching 15 knots. The runway involved is 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide.
Findings
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate and possessed approximately 5,000 hours of total flight time, but had only about 2 hours of experience in the recently purchased tailwheel equipped airplane. The flight instructor, who was hired to provide checkout training, had 3,469.7 total flight hours, though his experience specifically in the accident aircraft was limited to 5 hours.