Primary finding
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to maintain directional control of the airplane during a touch-and-go landing. Factors associated with the accident were: the rough/uneven runway, and a berm.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings in a tailwheel equipped airplane. After touchdown on a rutted portion of the runway, the pilot added full power to takeoff again. The airplane began to drift toward the left. Full application of right rudder did not correct the left drift. The student aborted the takeoff, but the airplane swerved off the left side of the runway, and collided with a berm. The student had accrued 27 hours of total instruction.
Source record
Factual narrative
On May 18, 1997, about 1250 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 150, N5668E, crashed during landing at the Goose Bay airstrip, about 9 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area instructional flight when the accident occurred. The airplane, operated by Alaska Air Academy, Anchorage, sustained substantial damage. The student pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Lake Hood Strip, Anchorage, about 1120. In a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on May 18, 1997, the Director of Operations reported the student pilot was practicing touch and go landings. The airplane had been modified to a Texas Taildragger (tail-wheel) configuration. During a landing on runway 25, the student touched down on a rutted area of the runway. The pilot added power to begin a takeoff, but the airplane began to drift toward the left. The pilot added full right rudder, but the airplane continued toward the left. The pilot aborted the takeoff, and the airplane swerved off the left side of the runway and collided with a berm. The airplane received damage to the main landing gear and propeller. The Director of Operations inspected the airplane after the accident. He reported no malfunction of the airplane's rudder cables. The student pilot had accrued 27 hours of total instruction, all accrued in the accident airplane. An NTSB pilot/operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2) was not returned by the operator. -