Incident Overview
During the landing roll out, the private pilot reported that he looked down to turn off the carburetor heat. When he looked back up, he noticed the airplane was near the left edge of the runway. In response, he applied right rudder, which resulted in an overcorrection. This caused the airplane to ground loop and depart the right side of the runway, coming to rest on the grass.
Damage and Pilot Statement
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot indicated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Sequence Details
The pilot's action of looking down momentarily diverted his attention from the runway alignment. After correcting his heading, the overcorrection led to a loss of directional control. The ground loop occurred as the airplane rotated around its vertical axis, and it subsequently exited the runway surface onto the adjacent grass area. The extent of the damage was limited to the fuselage, with no other components reported as affected.