What happened
On the day of the accident, a student pilot elected to fly a recently purchased tailwheel aircraft because the weather conditions were calm. The pilot departed on runway 04 and entered the traffic pattern for runway 11. During the second landing attempt, the aircraft experienced a ground loop.
At the time of the event, the winds were reported at 5 knots from 110 degrees magnetic. The pilot had only 2.0 hours of flight time in this specific aircraft type. Records from the Federal Aviation Administration indicate that the pilot was operating under a student pilot certificate issued on February 13, 2003.
Findings
The investigation revealed that the aircraft had undergone a conversion from tricycle landing gear to conventional (tailwheel) landing gear. The pilot did not possess an instructor endorsement for this specific aircraft make and model. Additionally, the pilot noted that while his flight instructor would not have approved of the flight, he chose to fly regardless.