Event IAD99LA017

Factual narrative

On November 5, 1998, at 1354 eastern standard time, a Luscombe LL-8-C, N2619K, registered to and being operated by a private pilot, was substantially damaged during a loss of control on landing at the Essex County Airport, Caldwell, New Jersey. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed. The local, personal flight was to have been conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to the pilot, a new engine had been installed in the airplane, and this was the first flight after maintenance and several months of the airplane being inactive. He said the landing on runway 22 was uneventful, but as he turned off the runway onto the taxiway, the brakes locked up, and the airplane ground looped. The pilot reported over 350 hours of total flight experience which included 90 hours in make and model. A controller in the airport's air traffic control tower reported that he "was working local control when I cleared N2619K to land. I watched N2619K veer off the runway onto the north side of taxiway bravo on the grass. R[unwa]y 22 was in use" (refer to attached ATTACHMENT W-I and IR-I). Taxiway "BRAVO" crosses runway 22 approximately 1,500 upwind of the displaced threshold for the runway and is the first available taxiway exit to the midfield ramp area (refer to DIAGRAM A-I). The 1354 aviation weather observation taken at the Essex County Airport reported winds as variable at six knots. In a telephone conversation, a maintenance representative from a local fixed base operator (FBO) at the Essex County Airport reported recalling that several of his employees freely rolled the aircraft on its main wheels off the runway to the FBO's ramp. The aircraft was transported via flatbed truck from the Essex County Airport to Sky Acres airport, Lagrangeville, New York, for repairs. The facility effecting repairs was contacted and reported in a telephone conversation that the post accident repairs included "servicing of the brakes" but that no other corrective repair work had been done on the aircraft's Cleveland brakes. The pilot reported that after an uneventful landing on runway 22 at the Essex County airport, the brakes locked and the airplane ground looped. A tower controller reported observing the aircraft land on runway 22 and then veer off the runway into the grass on the north side of taxiway bravo which is located approximately 1,500 feet upwind of the threshold for the runway, and is the first available taxiway exit to the midfield ramp area. Winds at the time of the accident were reported as variable at six knots. A maintenance representative from a local fixed base operator (FBO) recalled that several of his employees freely rolled the aircraft on its main wheels off the runway to the FBO's ramp subsequent to the accident. The aircraft was transported via flatbed truck from the Essex County Airport to Sky Acres airport, Lagrangeville, New York, for repairs. The facility effecting repairs reported that the post accident repairs included 'servicing of the brakes' but that no other corrective repair work had been done on the aircraft's Cleveland brakes. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12