DOUGLAS, AZ, USA
N1616Z
Luscombe 8F
The pilot stated that he was making a full-stop landing with a reasonable quartering right crosswind of about 15 knots. During the landing roll, when he had slowed to about 30 knots, an unusual noise caused him to glance into the cockpit. When he looked up, the aircraft was veering to the left and he input right rudder and brake. The control input, together with the crosswind, resulted in over-correction and the aircraft ground looped to the right. The pilot had made about 13 landings in this aircraft type prior to the accident.
On August 3, 1996 at 1205 hours mountain standard time, a Luscombe 8F, N1616Z, was substantially damaged during a ground loop while landing at Bisbee Douglas International Airport, Douglas, Arizona. The commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight which departed from Bisbee Municipal Airport, Bisbee, Arizona, at 1115. The pilot told the NTSB investigator that he was planning to buy the aircraft and had made about 12 landings in it prior to the accident flight. At the time of the accident he was making his second full-stop landing of the flight on runway 17. There was a "reasonable" crosswind from the southwest about 15 knots. During the landing roll, when he had slowed to about 30 knots, he heard an unusual noise and glanced down to the engine instruments. When he looked up, the aircraft was veering to the left, so he input right rudder and brake. The pilot thinks that a gust of crosswind, together with his control input, caused him to over-correct to the right and the aircraft ground looped, collapsing the left main landing gear. He commented that he found the aircraft's heel brakes difficult to operate. The aircraft came to rest on the 150-foot-wide runway, about 2,000 feet from the threshold end, headed north. A special weather observation taken at Bisbee Douglas at 1142 reported the wind was from 280 degrees at 10 knots, and a broken layer of towering cumulus clouds with bases at 4,000 feet. The remarks to the report included "towering cumulus overhead." The pilot told the NTSB investigator that in the minutes after the accident there was a rain shower and gusty wind.
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft during the landing roll. A contributing factor was the pilot's inexperience in the type aircraft.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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