This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Upon normal three-point landing on the paved runway at ZZZ, student touched down and bounced off of the runway.
During the bounce the student failed to properly use his rudder pedals to maintain directional control of the Piper J-3 Cub, allowing the longitudinal axis of the plane to veer left.
I immediately added the correct rudder inputs to align the airplane with the runway.
Upon touching down again after the bounce, the left wing dipped and we landed on the left main gear. The plane immediately veered hard to the right at nearly a 90° angle to the runway. I immediately tried to regain control of the aircraft using rudder pedals and brakes, but ultimately failed to do so.
We hit the snow bank that divided the paved and parallel grass runway and the plane nosed over, causing the prop to strike the ground.
Both my student and myself were uninjured.
I immediately turned off the fuel, closed the throttle, and shut off the magnetos before instructing my student to exit the aircraft.
After exiting the aircraft we were met with additional airport personnel who helped us move the plane off the active runway.
I think the student, who has spent most of his time in Cessnas, was trying to use the rudders in a similar manner, which requires long, constant pressure to control. The Piper Cub requires quick, constantly changing rudder inputs to maintain directional control.
I should have recognized the instability of the situation earlier and been quicker on my responses with the rudder pedals. I failed to take control of the situation, which resulted in the accident.
Additional training on the ground, such as practicing taxiing at high speeds, could help in the future to demonstrate proper rudder input techniques.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 1868632
If you’re moving left with the longitudinal axis of the airplane aligned with the runway, you’d better have that right wing low in a side slip or you’ll be a passenger real quick.
Landed on the left main and the airplane went to the right? Well I hope he figures out what they were really doing on the controls so they can learn from this. And hopefully a little better elevator technique to avoid bounced landings.
In a tailwheel airplane, if you land while moving laterally, say to the left, the left wing will dip, the tail will swing left and the nose will turn right. From that point recovery is possible using rudder and brakes but only if it doesn’t get too far out of hand and it depends on the airplane. Happy feet is a good description since overcorrecting is a problem if you apply rudder and hold (wait). Tapping the pedals instead of holding steady pressure works well on my TW airplane.
Chris
And BTW, bounces on TW airplanes are not uncommon. Again, it depends what airplane you are flying. In mine it is almost expected you will get a slight bounce 50% of the landings. Practice brings improvement but how you react and recover from a bounce is even more important.
Chris
In tailwheel planes you have to have happy feet. You have to stay on your toes all the way until the plane has stopped.