12 Jul 2012: MIKOYAN GUREVICH MIG 21MF — WARD WILLIAM E

12 Jul 2012: MIKOYAN GUREVICH MIG 21MF — WARD WILLIAM E

No fatalities • Minneapolis, MN, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's delayed application of wheel brakes to slow the airplane down on landing and the airplane’s failed drag chute, which resulted in a runway overrun.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On June 12, 2012, at 0958 central daylight time, a Mikoyan Gurevich Mig 21MF, was substantially damaged when it over ran the runway while landing at Flying Cloud Airport (FCM), Minneapolis, Minnesota. The airline transport pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot. An instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight that departed from Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (ARB), Ann Arbor, Michigan, about 0630. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

The pilot stated the airplane was going to be part of an exhibition being held at Flying Cloud airport that weekend. On final approach to runway 10R, he established a speed of 165 knots and landed approximately 300 feet down the 5,000-foot-long runway. Upon landing, the pilot brought the throttle to idle and deployed the drag chute. Since there was a delay in slowing the airplane down before the chute opened, the pilot said he initiated maximum braking. When the airplane did not slow down, he thought that he did not hit the button that deployed the chute hard enough and tried several more times before he realized he "had no chute." When the pilot knew that the airplane would go off the runway, he maneuvered it to the left and onto the grassy area adjacent to the runway to avoid crossing a state highway. The airplane struck a berm and a chain link fence before it came to rest upright. The left main landing gear collapsed and the right wing and fuselage were substantially damaged. The nose cone of the airplane and the left wing were also damaged.

Several Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors were at the airport and witnessed the accident. According to one inspector, when the airplane was approximately halfway down the runway, the drag chute deployed. Before the chute fully opened, it departed the airplane and landed on the runway. The airplane continued down the runway at a high rate of speed before it veered left near the east end of the runway. The inspector said it looked like the airplane went up on its nose and then landed back down on its belly before it came to a rest near the edge of a highway.

The pilot said he tested the drag chute approximately three weeks before the accident in preparation for this particular flight and there were no malfunctions of the system. He also said that he had successfully deployed the drag chute about 6 or 7 times prior to this accident without incident.

A review of performance data for the airplane revealed the pilot had sufficient runway length to land without the drag chute.

Contributing factors

  • cause Equipment/furnishings — Failure
  • cause Incorrect use/operation
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 170/07kt, 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.