The pilot told investigators the Piper PA-22-135 had recently been purchased by the passenger and they were transporting it to their home location via a cross-country flight.
During a planned rest stop at the airport in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the pilot maneuvered the airplane in the traffic pattern to land.
As he turned onto short final, he was attempting to align the airplane with the runway, but he noticed the yaw of the airplane was to the left and “hard.”
He made sure the right seat passenger did not have his feet resting on the rudder pedals.
The pilot noticed the left rudder pedal was all the way forward against the firewall and he was unable to free it by manipulating the rudder pedals back and forth.
He then decided to land parallel to the runway, in dry, tall grass.
During the landing, the airplane hit several saplings, nosed over, and came to rest inverted.
The pilot and passenger were able to get out of the airplane on their own.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left-wing lift struts, the vertical stabilizer, and the rudder.
A post-accident examination of the airframe established flight control continuity and no signs of foreign object debris were found lodged in or around the rudder pedals. Pre-accident flight control rigging settings could be not determined due to the airframe damage sustained.
Probable Cause: A loss of yaw control while on final approach, which resulted in the pilot performing an off-runway landing, and a subsequent nose over. The reason for the loss of yaw control could not be determined based on the available evidence.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This December 2021 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.
I’ve seen this before on the exact same model (PA-22) with the exact same result. In that case, a plastic water bottle had fallen off the seat in turbulance and when turning final, became jammed between the right seat rudder pedals, in this case causing a hard yaw to the right with the rudder jammed and the pilot unable to overcome it. Rather than at continue with an undiagnosed problem causing a jammed rudder, the pilot chose to pull power and continue the landing. The plane exited the right side of the runway, and damaged the gear (collapsed nosee and right gear) and one wing when it transited a ditch. Pilot walked away uninjured and the plane was parted out.
Airplanes may kill you, but they ain’t likely to hurt you. Satchel Paige
Hard yaw while attempting…and then “noticed” the pedal was against the floor.
Wonder where his feet were during the attempted alignment.
There is a lot that doesn’t make a lot of sense with this story;
– the flight was 215 nm ,which at 100 kts should have taken 2.2 hours, no wind, vs the 3 hours reported.
– The Tri-Pacer has an O-290 and the fuel use is 7 gph to 12 gph depending on power setting, so in the 3 hrs flown, 21 to 36 gallons would be burned.
The FAA inspector found no fuel in either tank.
– the 75 YO pilot has no medical; last one in 2005, so not legal to be pic.
– ‘walking away ‘ from the aircraft and not reporting the crash ?
Is flying GA in Texas that ‘casual’ ?