3 Jan 2019: Piper PA 18-135

3 Jan 2019: Piper PA 18-135 — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Longmont, CO, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot reported that, during his first flight as pilot-in-command of the tundra tire, tailwheel-equipped airplane, while on the 4th three-point landing to the concrete runway, after the tailwheel touched down, the airplane veered left. He corrected with right rudder and attempted to return to the runway centerline, then applied left rudder, but the airplane continued to veer right. Subsequently, the airplane ground looped to the right and the left wing struck the ground.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage.

The owner of the airplane, who was seated in the rear seat, reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 310/03kt, 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.