Accident Details
On February 8, 2016, at approximately 1131 mountain standard time, a Cessna T206H, registration N562H, veered off the runway after landing at Billings Logan International Airport (BIL), Billings, Montana. The pilot, the sole occupant, sustained minor injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage throughout. The flight was operated by the pilot under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight and originated from Red Reflect Ranch Airport (WY00), Ten Sleep, Wyoming, at 1030. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
Pilot Account
The pilot reported that the airplane touched down very smoothly. Shortly thereafter, it began to veer to the left with no lateral control. The airplane veered 90 degrees and departed the side of the runway.
Postaccident Examination
A Federal Aviation Administration Inspector conducted a postaccident examination. The windscreen was partially separated. The fuselage at the main landing gear attachment points sustained upward crushing, and the nose wheel fork was fractured. The right wheel strut was fractured and separated about three inches from the wheel assembly, and the wheel separated from the airplane. The fracture surface was visually inspected and consistent with overload. The outboard approximately four feet of the right wing was bent upward, and the fuselage just aft of the rear window was bent downward. Overall, no anomalies were noted with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.
Weather Conditions
Review of Billings Air Traffic Control Tower recordings revealed that a general wind shear warning was broadcast on the frequency shortly before the pilot landed. The closest official weather station was BIL. At 1153, the automated surface observing system reported wind from 220 degrees at 8 knots with gusts to 19 knots, 10 miles visibility, few clouds at 8,500 feet above ground level, scattered clouds at 20,000 feet, temperature 9 degrees Celsius, dew point -6 degrees Celsius, and an altimeter setting of 30.38 inches of mercury. One-minute BIL ASOS surface data at 1131 indicated a two-minute average wind from 222 degrees at 12 knots and a five-second maximum average wind from 233 degrees at 17 knots. The Rawinsonde Observation program reported low-level wind shear in the lowest 2,000 feet above ground level, and several layers of possible clear-air turbulence were identified from the surface through 14,000 feet.