5 Jul 2010: PIPER PA-18-150 — State of Montana

5 Jul 2010: PIPER PA-18-150 (N6110A) — State of Montana

No fatalities • Dillon, MT, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On July 5, 2010, about 1300 Mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-18-150 airplane, N6110A, was substantially damaged during a ground loop during landing at Dillon Airport, Dillon, Montana. The pilot and one passenger were not injured. The airplane was owned and operated by the State of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as a public use flight under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and it is unknown if a flight plan was filed.

In a written statement, the pilot reported that he entered a normal traffic pattern for runway 22 and observed the winds to be a right quartering headwind. After a normal approach, the airplane touched down on the main landing gear. As the tail wheel was about to touch down the airplane veered to the right. The pilot used left rudder and brake to compensate for the turn, but the airplane exited the right side of the runway. Through the use of left rudder and brake the pilot was able to stop the right turn, but then the airplane turned to the left and ground looped. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing spar and right elevator.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 290/08kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.