Tail Wheel Biplane pilot reported loss of control and exiting the runway into the grass during landing. Pilot stated a crosswind was a factor and low pilot time in the aircraft contributed to the excursion.

Date: 2022-06 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft · Phase: landing

Anomalies: ground-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control|ground-excursion-runway|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

Tail Wheel Biplane pilot reported loss of control and exiting the runway into the grass during landing. Pilot stated a crosswind was a factor and low pilot time in the aircraft contributed to the excursion.

Narrative

During landing at ZZZ on Runway XX with an approximate 6 to 8 knot crosswind (NWS indicates the wind was south at 10 mph at XA:53 ATIS was reporting 190 at 9 knots). After touchdown during rollout directional control became compromised at approximately 30 mph and the right wing began lifting with full right aileron and left pedal which was losing authority. As the aircraft was tracking towards the right side of the runway I made the decision to exit the runway environment at approximately 20 mph into the grass to place the aircraft directly into the wind and remove the lifting force of the crosswind from under the right wing and to facilitate the slowing of the aircraft in the grass environment with moderate braking while recovering directional control to avoid the PAPI array which passed out the left side of the aircraft. With 20 hours in this new aircraft type and being cautioned during my checkout of the risk of nosing the aircraft over with heavy braking I determined a controlled exit into the grass to be the safest course of action in bringing the aircraft to a stop. After coordination with the tower aircraft was taxied back onto the taxiway and to the hanger under its own power.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.