2 Mar 2011: PIPER J3C-65 — Tommy R McFalls

2 Mar 2011: PIPER J3C-65 — Tommy R McFalls

No fatalities • Maysvile, NC, United States

Probable cause

The pilot-rated passenger’s loss of directional control during takeoff and the pilot’s delayed remedial action, which resulted in a runway excursion and collision with trees.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot-in-command (PIC) of the tailwheel airplane stated that he was flying from his private airstrip, with a friend who was also a pilot. The friend did not have much experience in tailwheel airplanes and had not flown the airplane from the airstrip. The PIC was in the front seat and his friend was in the rear seat. The PIC completed two takeoffs and landings uneventfully, and then let his friend perform the third takeoff.. During the takeoff roll, as the tailwheel lifted, the airplane yawed to the left. The PIC then took the controls and attempted to correct the yaw; however, the airplane traveled off the left side of the runway and impacted trees, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The PIC reported no mechanical anomalies with the airplane and added that the wind was light and variable at the time. The PIC stated that he should have taken control of the airplane sooner.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 270/07kt, 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.