What happened
On January 10, 1965, a Piper Cub J3C, registered as HB-OXK, was involved in an accident during a landing maneuver at the Lugano-Agno airfield. The aircraft was being operated for flight training purposes at the time of the incident. During the landing sequence, the student pilot attempted to execute specific flight corrections as instructed by the flight instructor. However, these maneuvers were performed with excessive force or lack of precision, causing the aircraft to undergo a ground loop.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the maneuvers performed during the final stages of the landing. It was established that the student pilot's application of the instructor's commands was too abrupt. The resulting loss of control led to the aircraft flipping or overturning, which caused substantial structural damage to the airframe. The damage to the Piper Cub J3C was estimated to be between 50% and 80% of its total value.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the student pilot's overly coarse execution of corrective maneuvers during the landing phase.
- There were no injuries to the occupants of the aircraft.
- The runway surface sustained minor damage as a result of the incident.