Boeing B75 N61445 accident near Chino, California

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.

NTSB analysis

The pilot of the tailwheel equipped biplane reported that, during a landing roll on runway 26R, the left wing “dipped” and that he applied right aileron to counteract. The pilot stated that the airplane began to turn to the right and that, despite the application of full left rudder, left brake, and a brief application of power, he was unable to correct the movement. The lower left wing subsequently struck the ground. The airplane then veered sharply to the right, exited the runway, and the left main landing gear collapsed as the airplane came to rest upright.

Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuselage was structurally damaged. The left rudder/tailwheel cable idler arm was found fractured. Examination of the two pieces of fractured left rudder/tailwheel cable idler arm revealed that the fracture progressed though the section due to a monotonic bending load. It’s likely that the fracture occurred during the pilot’s attempt to counteract the airplane’s movement to the right when directional control was lost.

The airport’s automated weather observation station reported that, about 4 minutes after the accident, the wind was calm. However, the pilot reported that while on short final to the runway, the air traffic control tower controller reported wind was from 270° at 4 knots.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR20LA226 for the full record.