What happened
On November 14, 2015, a Curtiss Wright Travel Air biplane, registration N9872, was performing landings at Carlsbad, California. During the fourth landing roll of the day, the aircraft began to fish-tail to the right. The pilot was unable to maintain directional control, causing the aircraft to ground loop to the left on the runway.
As the ground loop occurred, the right main landing gear collapsed and the lower right wing struck the ground. The impact resulted in substantial damage to the lower right wing and the wing strut. There were no injuries resulting from the accident.
The investigation
The pilot reported that no mechanical failures or anomalies occurred prior to or during the flight that would have interfered with normal operations.