Crash of a Denney Kitfox 5 (N257ED) at Monroe County Airport (4G5), Woodsfield, Ohio
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2023
- On December 5, 2022, at about 1052 local time, a Denney Kitfox 5, N257ED, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident at Monroe County Airport (4G5), Woodsfield, Ohio. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries.
The pilot reported that after touchdown, the airspeed decreased, and the tailwheel settled onto the runway. He applied brakes and recalled the airplane’s nose pulled to the left about 20 or 30 degrees. He applied right rudder and right brake to correct the direction, but the airplane exited the runway to the left, traveled up a berm and became airborne. The right wing then impacted terrain and rotated the airplane 180 degrees, before it came to rest on the main landing gear. Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. The inspector examined the airplane’s brakes and found that both functioned normally. He also examined the tires and saw that neither exhibited flat spots and that the tire marks on the runway appeared to be from a rolling (and not skidding) right tire. Based on this information, it is likely that the pilot lost directional control of the airplane during the landing.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.
The back story is that he WAS and experienced pilot flying larger aircraft (airlines I believe) for decades....but that was years ago, and he had no experience in this airplane or this type. He had just purchased the airplane one or two days prior and was on his way flying back to the west coast with it. The gentleman that sold it to him offered to take him up and fly around for a few hours to learn the ins and outs and get used to it. He refused standing on his own experience. You can see in the video that he had a light cross wind which is consistent with the skid mark. My less than two cents... he landed with too much speed (which he may have been conditioned for with the other aircraft he was used to flying), and tried to force the tailwheel on the ground. In the video you can see there is very little control input or rudder movement from beginning to end. Just looks like trying to force a three point landing carrying too much speed, loss of control by not flying the tail, then locking up mentally once they were headed off the runway and along for the ride. If they were going slow enough for the tailwheel to "settle onto the runway" on it's own, they would have been going slow enough to just roll off the side of the runway and stop (based on over a decade of flying my own Kitfox). I'm sure it was scary for both the pilot and passenger and I'm glad their injuries were minor. The financial loss and loss of such a beautiful airplane is certainly sad and was unnecessary. If the pilot had just been a little more humble and willing to get a couple hours in with the owner he may have avoided all this and been enjoying flying this girl today?
On December 5, 2022, at about 1052 local time, a Denney Kitfox 5, N257ED, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident at Monroe County Airport (4G5), Woodsfield, Ohio. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries.
The pilot reported that after touchdown, the airspeed decreased, and the tailwheel settled onto the runway. He applied brakes and recalled the airplane’s nose pulled to the left about 20 or 30 degrees. He applied right rudder and right brake to correct the direction, but the airplane exited the runway to the left, traveled up a berm and became airborne. The right wing then impacted terrain and rotated the airplane 180 degrees, before it came to rest on the main landing gear. Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. The inspector examined the airplane’s brakes and found that both functioned normally. He also examined the tires and saw that neither exhibited flat spots and that the tire marks on the runway appeared to be from a rolling (and not skidding) right tire. Based on this information, it is likely that the pilot lost directional control of the airplane during the landing.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.
And that’s why insurance rates for taildraggers keep going up. The brakes didn’t freeze-the pilot did.
This kitfox wasn't insured.
@@Airplanefish unfortunately, it’ll still be used by the actuaries to raise rates
The old blame the stick brake after touch down excuse, that’s the third time this month!
And us taildragger owners get to pay the increased rates!
You can clearly see the rudder is neutral throughout the sequence. When the right wing dropped, the pilot input full left aileron-inducing the low right wing to develop more drag. The resultant right yaw developed an incipient spin-which dropped the right wing into the ground and caused the cartwheel.
Watched many crash analysis videos you have.
What about the gust-lock?
@@fromaggiovagiola9128 read many crash descriptions, you have not…
Yup, all aileron, no rudder.
@@fromaggiovagiola9128 I think he might have noticed, this was the end of a flight.....
@@fromaggiovagiola9128 It was at the end of a long leg, so highly unlikely any control locks were in play.
Why he was using brakes at touch down speed is the question. A slight difference in pedal pressure at touchdown speed will send the plane off the runway, as it did here. I made this mistake once in a Cardinal and was shocked how quickly the aircraft rotated more than 45 degrees.
“Followed by them” says it all.
Weird, no correlation between the pilots description of the events leading to crash, and the video footage!
When he applied brakes why did it pull to the left 20 or 30 degrees?
Each brake pedal controls its own brake. Right pedal, right brake. If you push on one pedal harder than the other it will turn the plane in the direction of the greater pressure. Brakes are typically only used after the plane has significantly slowed on the runway.
@@gawebm Thanks, it sounds a bit tricky to safely apply equal pressure to each pedal, after all cars only have one brake pedal that's linked to all 4 wheels, so why do planes have two pedals?
@@tungstenkid2271 for better direction control while taxiing. its not that difficult to press them at the same time, plus thats what training is for. the pilot claimed that the left brake locked up (there is no ABS on small aircraft like cars have) which led to the aircraft turning left. the after-accident aircraft inspection does not show any evidence of a brake locking up, as shown by the lack of flat spot on the tire and the comment that brakes were functioning normally after the accident.
"Undercarriage lever a bit sticky was it sir?"
"Yes! As a matter of fact it was"
"I wouldnt tell the CO that sir, not if i were you!"
"I wouldn't tell the C.O. that if I were you sir"
tail wheel touched and he applied brakes? wtf he think he was in a 152? there's no brakes on the tailwheel lol.
Hey, I built this plane. Wanna go for a ride?
You know what they say, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing." However, with a great landing you can reuse the airplane.
You know, I've never heard a pilot say that. I've only seen it on youtube comments.
Denny?? Denny kitfox 5? There's no such thing.
Tail draggers are better at landing in grass