The pilot of an Aviat Husky was practicing touch-and-go landings on runway 36 in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
On his third approach, he noticed that the windsock was now favoring runway 18 and that the wind was gusting.
He did a go-around and made an approach to runway 18.
After landing, the left wing started to rise and the tail swung to the right. He applied left rudder, but the tail continued to the right and the main gear buckled, which brought the right wing down on the runway. The wing was crushed from the strut to the tip.
The NTSB attributed the accident to the pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while landing in gusty crosswind conditions.
NTSB Identification: CEN13CA136
Decades ago, one of my earliest instructors (pre-solo) told me that if you are in doubt “go-around”. The only time you have to land is when the engine isn’t running any longer. “Take-offs are optional, while landings are mandatory”. This owner may have been set back due to the wind changing direction on him.
Duh, if the tail is swinging to the right with the nose drifting left that would require right rudder to correct the swing not left rudder which would only make the situation worse which presumably is what happened. And if the left wing is rising then obviously left aileron would be required to counter the rise. Either something’s amiss in this report and its misleading or this pilot had his/her head up and locked big time.
Looks like he did what was right,
Why do accidents happen?
Blaming the weather or something else seems to be a common theme here on GAN’s accident reports. There is something wrong with their thinking . . . “after the landing . . . the wind lifted the wing” . . . Why not just say it like it is, during the landing the pilot didn’t maintain control during gusty conditions. It wasn’t after the landing, it was during the landing.
This really is misleading to the inexperienced and those just learning to fly. “OMG, the wind did it!”
Another misleading headline. Actually, it was not a “gusty crosswind” that bent the Husky. Rather, it was poor piloting skills.
Left rudder? Shouldn’t it be right rudder and left aileron?
Huh?????
Correct. It was the tail that swung to the right, meaning the nose turned left. He should have applied right rudder to counter this, and left aileron to expose the top of the left aileron to the wind.