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CEN18LA307

2018-08-02 · Escanaba, Michigan, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ESC

Current FAA registration · N142NV

Make / Model
GERALD DAN COPPOCK BABE-E
Year of manufacture
2014 · 4 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR A80 SERIES (80 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20141202
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A0AB5E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The loss of control during the landing rollout for reasons that could not be determined based on the available evidence, which resulted in a ground loop and runway excursion.

Factual narrative

On August 02, 2018, about 1900 eastern daylight time, a Gerald Dan Coppock BABE-E homebuilt experimental airplane, N142NV, registered to the pilot/builder, sustained substantial damage during a runway excursion following a loss of directional control while landing at the Delta County Airport (ESC), Escanaba, Michigan. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed. The local personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Federal Code of Regulations Part 91. The flight originated from ESC about 1830. According to the pilot, he was landing on runway 01 at ESC and the airplane touched down normally. During the rollout, the airplane veered to the left once the tailwheel contacted the runway. Both wingtips contacted the runway surface and the airplane ground-looped. The forward section of the fuselage was buckled upward and substantially damaged. The airplane came to rest, nose down and the pilot exited the airplane. According to ESC METAR weather, reported winds about the time of the accident were 330 at 5 knots. Inspection of the airplane after the accident revealed that the right steering cable chain was broken and hanging from the tailwheel. It could not be determined if the cable break was caused prior to or during the accident sequence. NTSB Form 6120 was not received from the pilot for additional information. The pilot was landing the experimental, amateur-built, tailwheel-equipped airplane on a dry runway. During the rollout, the airplane veered to the left when the tailwheel was lowered to the runway. Both wingtips contacted the runway surface; the airplane ground looped and exited the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the forward section of the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right steering cable chain was broken and hanging from the tailwheel. It could not be determined if the cable broke before or during the accident sequence. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2018_CEN18LA307.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control, runway excursion). All research papers