21 Sep 2017: HENCKEN WILLIAM PIETENPOL AIR CAMPER NO SERIES

21 Sep 2017: HENCKEN WILLIAM PIETENPOL AIR CAMPER NO SERIES — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Franklin, PA, United States

Probable cause

The failure of the weld that connects the left main landing gear and the axle during the takeoff roll.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot reported that during the takeoff roll, the experimental tailwheel-equipped airplane's left wing dropped. The pilot corrected with right aileron input and back pressure on the control yoke. However, the airplane veered off the runway, bounced, and impacted in a right wing low attitude. Subsequently the airplane nosed over.

A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the weld that connects the left main landing gear and the axle failed.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and empennage.

Contributing factors

  • cause Main gear strut/axle/truck — Failure
  • Directional control

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 020/04kt, 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, 40,000+ 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.