SEA98LA057

Factual narrative

On March 31, 1998, approximately 1825 mountain standard time, an Aeronca 7-EC tail wheel airplane, N4382C, impacted the terrain during the landing roll at Dawson Community Airport, Glendive, Montana. The Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and his passenger were not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the passenger, received substantial damage. The local CFR Part 91 flight, which had been in the air for about 55 minutes, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT transmission. According to the CFI, he had just landed in a calm wind when the aircraft started to get away from him. He said that he attempted to regain control, but that by the time he applied the remedial action, he was unable to keep the aircraft from ground looping. As the aircraft spun around, the wing hit the ground hard enough to cause substantial damage to the wing structure. During the landing roll in the tail wheel equipped airplane, the pilot felt that the aircraft was starting to get away from him. He attempted remedial action, but the action was taken too late to keep the aircraft from entering a ground loop. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12