The pilot reported that, during the landing roll at the airport in Hillsboro, Ohio, the tailwheel-equipped Piper PA-22 exited the runway to the left, hit a runway light, and hit a ditch.
The left main landing gear separated from the airplane, and the plane came to rest nose down.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left lower fuselage and left wing. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
The pilot added that, while he was at the departure airport before the flight, due to jet blast, he was blown off a ladder during the preflight inspection and that the airplane’s tail section was “picked” up and slammed several times onto the ground.
He examined the airplane and did not find any anomalies.
He said there was no control issues or anomalies during takeoff but that, during the flight to the accident airport, he felt the airplane was out of trim.
The FAA inspector reported that, during a post-accident examination, he could not determine if the damage to the tailwheel was sustained before the accident or when the airplane hit the ditch.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during landing.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA359
This June 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.
The problem of —- [fill in the blank for category and type] blast is not unique to jets. I’ve had multiple encounters (mostly bad) with air taxied helicopters over my flying career. If air taxied close enough, even and R22 can rock a ladder and lift the tires off the ground.
I think what the pilot was trying to say is, out of rig, not trim. But probably didn’t know the technical name for this.
Think about this, if the jet blast was enough to blow him off a ladder…. At BKL, I’ve seen a C15x flying behind a jet that Customs required to park in a line ahead of where that Cessna was tied down. And it was bouncing up and down, coming off the ground. I do not know if that aircraft was damaged.
So I can imagine what would happen a jet were within 100′ of that PA22 and running its engines up above idle.
Probable cause: NTSB’s penchant for rubber stamping — Had this been a Part 135 crash, they would have looked at the control services and the cables, etc. And had they found a stretched cable or similar issue, the probable cause would have been very different.
Lesson to be learned: If your plane is flying on the tie-down ropes like a kite behind some jet, have it examined. Oh, and get the registration number of that aircraft causing this as they are responsible for their jet/prop wash (so my old CFI had told me relative to this kind of situation where we had a lot of C130 traffic).
I think what the pilot was trying to say is, out of rig, not trim. But probably didn’t know the technical name for this.
Think about this, if the jet blast was enough to blow him off a ladder…. At BKL, I’ve seen a C15x flying behind a jet that Customs required to park in a line ahead of where that Cessna was tied down. And it was bouncing up and down, coming off the ground. I do not know if that aircraft was damaged.
So I can imagine what would happen a jet were within 100′ of that PA22 and running its engines up above idle.
Probable cause: NTSB’s penchant for rubber stamping — Had this been a Part 135 crash, they would have looked at the control services and the cables, etc. And had they found a stretched cable or similar issue, the probable cause would have been very different.
Lesson to be learned: If your plane is flying on the tie-down ropes like a kite behind some jet, have it examined. Oh, and get the registration number of that Jet as they are responsible for their jet wash (so my old CFI had told me relative to this kind of situation where we had a lot of C130 traffic).