Boeing A75N1 Stearman, G-BTFG, 10 September 2005
Boeing A75N1 Stearman, G-BTFG
Summary:
After a half hour trial flying lesson, the commander made a normal landing on Runway 10 at Manston with the surface wind reported as 060?/3 kt. The landing was made in a three point attitude and was uneventful until the speed had decayed to approximately 30 kt. At that point a gust of wind lifted the left hand wing; the pilot attempted to correct this uncommanded motion with left aileron and rudder. The aircraft then yawed to the left and the left wing came down, with the wing tip hitting the ground. Immediately after this, the aircraft yawed to the right, coming to a halt almost 180? off the original runway heading. The aircraft was vacated without incident. Inspection of the aircraft revealed that the left side landing gear had collapsed and marks on the runway would indicate that this had occurred after the aircraft had started yawing right. With ground loop occurrences such as this, control is often lost with the aircraft turning the opposite way from the initial swing. This can be due to overcontrolling the aircraft in response to the first turn, although in this incident the pilot has no recollection of doing so.
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