SEA97LA055

Factual narrative

On February 1, 1997, about 1635 Pacific standard time, a Champion 7ECA, N11099, was substantially damaged in a collision with a ravine following a loss of control during a high-speed taxi at Bandon State Airport, Bandon, Oregon. The accident occurred during an instructional event for a tailwheel aircraft checkout. The commercial pilot-in-command, who was a certificated flight instructor (CFI), and the student, a private pilot, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the 14 CFR 91 flight. The instructor reported: I was giving taxi instruction to [the pilot-rated student] and upon slowing from a high speed taxi the aircraft began to depart runway 34 to the left. I took control with full rudder, full power and a lot of [right] aileron[,] enough in fact to drag the [right] wing on the runway. This turned the plane to the right about 45 [degrees;] I didn't have enough rudder authority to get the plane straight or headed down the runway before coming to a ravine on the east side of the runway[.] The aircraft impacted the east slope of the ravine, which runs parallel to the runway to the right of the departure end of runway 34. The instructor reported that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident. He reported winds at the time as being from 180 degrees magnetic at 3 knots. The flight was an instructional flight for a checkout in a tailwheel equipped aircraft, with a private pilot-rated student in the front seat and a certificated flight instructor (CFI) in the rear seat. The CFI stated that while he was giving the front-seat student taxi instruction, the airplane departed the runway to the left, as they were slowing from a high-speed taxi. The CFI stated that he took control at this point with enough control input (rudder, power, and aileron) to drag the right wing on the runway. The airplane turned about 45 degrees to the right and departed the right side of the runway. Subsequently, it impacted in a ravine which ran parallel to the right side of the departure end of the runway. No preimpact mechanical malfunction was reported. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12