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During a high speed taxi lesson, the instructor ground looped the aircraft.
- Accident/Incident Date:
Incident Type
Minor Incident
Investigation Status
Safety Investigation Completed
Membership Status
Reinstated
NTSB Number
N/A
Pilot Report
First flight with CFI to begin working on tail wheel endorsement. CFI was in the front seat. I was in the back seat. CFI was PIC. I was not manipulating the controls. He was demonstrating high speed taxi. First a full length run on 28R. The tower gave permission to do a 180 at end and high speed taxi back on 10L. Nearing the end of 10L speed was too high and he failed to decelerate soon enough, he turned too fast onto taxiway A to avoid going off the end of the runway and the plane ground looped. Ground loop caused left lower wing tip to strike the pavement. Taxied back to the hanger. Upon inspection, fabric torn on bottom of left wing tip, fabric wrinkled on top of left wing tip, left wheel strut bent, left wheel pant pressed against left tire, left wheel broken. No other apparent damage. I have no basis for estimating cost of repairs above and put in $7,500 above as a place holder
Passenger/Witness Report
As the instructor, I was demonstrating for my student a high-speed taxi on runway 10L. I misjudged the distance remaining to the end of the runway, so when I chopped the throttle, and brought the tail down, I tried to brake as aggressively as I could. The tail started to come up, so I did not add any more braking. I tried to cheat a high-speed taxi onto the taxiway, when the ground loop occurred. There was no prop strike, but there was damage to the left wing tip and left main landing gear and wheel. My student was not controlling the airplane, so 100% of the blame rests on my shoulder.
