The pilot reported that, during a flight review, while landing in gusting wind conditions at the airport in Dekalb, Illinois, the Ekolot KR-030 Topaz ballooned and landed hard on the left main landing gear.
The airplane veered sharply to the left, and the pilot applied full power to go around, but the airplane “would not climb.”
The flight instructor took the flight controls and the airplane came to rest about 400 yards south of the runway.
The flight instructor reported that, during the landing, the airplane ballooned and “abruptly dropped” onto the runway, damaging the left landing gear. The airplane veered to the left, the pilot applied power to go around, and the airplane bounced into the air.
He added that the airplane would not climb and continued to bounce multiple times before coming to rest south of the runway.
He believed the propeller and landing gear damage may have prevented the airplane from climbing during the go around.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The automated weather observation station located on the airport reported that, about six minutes before the accident, the wind was from 250° at 11 knots, gusting to 16 knots. The airplane landed on Runway 27.
Probable cause: The pilot’s improper landing flare during gusting wind conditions, and the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA255
This May 2018 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
No ultralight plane should be out in 16kt gust condition unless you are an EXPERT at the controls. Neither of these pilots are obviously qualified.
Not qualified because they tore it up? Pray tell how does one become “qualified” to fly in such conditions without doing it? Would the Cubs, Taylorcrafts, Luscombe, Aircoupe we fly all over west Texas qualify in your world as “ultralight”? And of course nobody ever wrecked a Cirrus due to a landing attempt in high winds, right?
Actually, I have pictures of new Cirrus with a wing completely delaminated and crushed landing gear while trying to land at Laramie WY in a 45 knot wind. And that type of wind is not that unusual for Laramie.
Totally avoidable. Poor basic, seat-of-the-pants flying ability. All too common these days.