1965 Piper Cub J3C HB-OWV accident at Bern-Belpmoos

Accident overview and aircraft details On 17 July 1965, a Piper Cub J3C registered HB-OWV was involved in an accident at Flugplatz Bern-Belpmoos. The aircraft was owned and operated by ALPAR A.G. of Bern. It was fitted with a Continental 65 PS engine and carried a certificate of airworthiness valid from 30 March 1963 to 2 April 1966. The accident occurred on the airfield's grass runway 32. ## Flight progress and accident sequence The pilot, born in 1936, was flying a check flight for an extension of his student pilot certificate. He had 31 dual flight hours and 280 landings, as well as 6.5 solo hours and 50 solo landings. The flight departed Bern-Belpmoos at 1430 local time. The pilot performed three target landings within the available 150 metres. During the approach for the fourth landing, a headwind developed, causing the aircraft to come up short. The pilot pulled back on the control column in an attempt to reach the landing target, but did not notice that the aircraft began to climb slightly. The aircraft then suddenly dropped, struck the ground hard, and the landing gear buckled. The propeller struck the ground. The aircraft skidded 10 metres, came to rest yawed 45° to the right, and its tail was raised at an angle of about 50°. ## Damage and injuries No personal injuries were reported. The aircraft sustained a broken wooden propeller, a dented engine cowl, and broken left-eye lugs on the left front landing-gear attachment. Estimated repair costs were 1,100 Swiss francs, representing about 5% of the aircraft's value. No ground damage was reported. ## Discussion and probable cause The investigation found that the pilot had paid insufficient attention to the wind and was surprised by the sudden headwind. The pull-back during the short approach was judged to be incorrect, but was considered an automatic reaction at the pilot's stage of training. The landing was not extremely high, and was not high enough to reach the landing gear's strength limit. Further examination of the damaged gear showed that the two eye lugs on the left strut had pre-existing cracks. The weakened landing-gear structure could not withstand a somewhat high, pulled-back landing.