The following is thanks to M0A reader and friend TheGimliGlider
Butch Smith of Plano is one heck of a lucky guy, isn’t he?
On April 21, 2009, while conducting some touch and gos (practicing take-offs and landings) his Piper Super Cub single engine plane flipped over during a landing attempt and ended up on the runway on its roof at Collin County Regional Airport. The accident occurred on CCRA’s main runway.
Miraculously he didn’t suffer any serious injuries. He didn’t even require a visit to the hospital.
Preliminary post-accident investigation revealed that all he was trying to do was to correct a situation popularly known as (and is mostly associated with tail-draggers) ‘ground loop situation’. He was trying his best to get out of the loop, but it didn’t work out, and he slipped the aircraft’s nose over and it landed on top.
FAA will step in to investigate the incident further.
This is not really uncommon to happen to small airplanes, but one still has to practice to stay proficient. Otherwise this might happen to you too.
Could it be possible that Smith forgot to visualize or keep in mind the wind direction and apply sufficient and appropriate control input to prevent the aircraft from tipping over? Or was there a strong crosswind at that time of incident and the air traffic controllers failed to notify him in due time? What do you think? Feel free to let us know in the form of comments, or email us at jason@m0a.com anytime regarding this issue.
Remember: no matter how good of a pilot you are, no matter how many thousands of flight time you have under your belt, any kind of accident can occur at any time at any altitude at any airspeed even in calm wind with gorgeous visibility if you, the pilot, aren’t recurrent, proficient and aware of the situation. So, while being confident is good, try your best not to let your success make you go complacent. Respect the airplane, respect the weather, and most importantly, always remember:
A good pilot, no matter how good he actually is, is always learning.
