NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC12CA081
Registry · N77EC
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER J3F-65
Year of manufacture
1941 · 71 years old at event
Engine
FRANKLIN 4AC176B SER (65 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19551230
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA6715
Registrant of record
PEDERSON ROLAND
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's delayed decision to go around, which resulted in a hard landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he had been landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane at an off-airport site. On his third landing attempt, he elected to go around, but the airplane landed hard. During the landing, the left main landing gear broke, and the left wing contacted terrain, sustaining substantial damage to the wing spar. In his written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot stated that the airplane may not have been developing full power, but in a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge he said, "the engine was running good when the prop hit." The pilot stated that he had been landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane at an off-airport site. On his third landing attempt, he elected to go around, but the airplane landed hard. During the landing, the left main landing gear broke and the left wing contacted the ground, sustaining substantial damage to the wing spar. In a written statement, the pilot stated that the airplane may not have been developing full power, but in a telephone conversation he said that, "the engine was running good when the prop hit." Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_ANC12CA081.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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