10 Aug 2014: AERONCA S11AC — Pilot

10 Aug 2014: AERONCA S11AC (N4240E) — Pilot

No fatalities • Boulder Junction, WI, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s improper runway selection, which resulted in a tailwind landing, and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On August 10, 2014, at 1000 central daylight time, an Aeronca S11AC, N4240E, veered off the runway and impacted trees during landing roll on runway 5 (3,170 feet by 165 feet, turf) at Boulder Junction Payzer Airport (BDJ), Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. The pilot sustained serious injuries. The airplane received substantial damage. The airplane was owned and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight that was not operating on a flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that originated from Ralph, Michigan and was destined to BDJ.

The Federal Aviation Administration coordinator for the accident investigation stated that he confirmed mechanical integrity of the airplane's flight controls, brakes, tail wheel, seat, and other systems during a post-accident examination of the airplane. He stated that on the day of the accident, the winds were south-southwest at 3 knots with gusts to 10 knots. The pilot made a tailwind landing. The pilot said that he may have made a mistake but did not know how. A witness said he observed the landing as a normal three point stall and as soon as the airplane began to roll out, it turned 20 degrees to the right and went into trees.

The pilot did not provide a required National Transportation Safety Board Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report and did not provide requested aircraft and pilot logbook(s) to the Federal Aviation Administration coordinator.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • Contributed to outcome
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 210/05kt, 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.