The pilot reported that, while en route, he used left rudder to stay coordinated and alternated his left and right leg due to muscle fatigue.
During landing at the airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the approach was stabilized and “felt normal” with the flaps set at 100%. During the landing flare, he used “very little rudder” to maintain centerline, and, about 1 to 2 feet above the ground, the Cirrus SR22 suddenly yawed to the left about 30° to 45°.
He added that there was not enough right rudder to maintain parallel with the runway, so he decided to go-around. He applied power, the airplane yawed violently to the left, then hit the ground. It exited the runway to the left, coming to rest in the grass to the left of a parallel taxiway.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
Examination of flight data revealed that, within 25 seconds of the accident, the airplane descended from 782 feet mean sea level (msl) to 619 msl with descent rates peaking around 1,019 feet per minute and the indicated airspeed decreased from 86 knots to 60 knots. About 2 seconds before the accident, the pitch attitude peaked at 7° with a left roll of 16°. The airport elevation was about 638 feet.
The airplane was also equipped with a crash hardened Recoverable Data Module (RDM), a flight recording device installed in the tail of the airplane. Examination of the data recovered from the RDM revealed that the airplane veered left, the power and pitch were momentarily increased, and the stall warning horn was on.
The airplane manufacturer’s recommended landing approach speed with flaps set to 100% was 80 to 85 knots. The aerodynamic stall speed at maximum gross weight was about 60 knots.
The pilot reported that the wind was light and variable and not gusting. The RDM data revealed that the wind was from 359° at 5 knots. The pilot was landing the airplane on Runway 19L.
The FAA inspector reported that he examined the airplane and verified rudder control continuity and that “everything was intact.”
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain a stabilized approach with a tailwind and his subsequent failure to maintain yaw control during an attempted go-around.
This February 2019 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
many pilots are too timid in their flying skills.if a pilot can,t perform basic aerobatic flying they should not be taking up any innocent passengers period.the only way you will know what happens on base to final when your sloppy on the controls is to have spin training to see what the end result would be as an example.
Rudder trim, rudder instruction need or planed rigging.
I get what you meant and I wondered the same. And a question I have is, does that plane have rudder trim?
I’ve never heard of having to use any rudder to “stay coordinated” in flight so much that your leg was tired and you had to use the other leg. Why didn’t the 1,100 hour pilot know within the first few minutes of this cross country flight that he had a problem with the airframe? The weather was CAVU with 9900 winds and this happened at Jones (Riverside) in Tulsa which is a controlled field. This reads like it was an accident searching for a location.
Problem with this airplane or any airplane? Maybe a few hours with a good CFI might be in order.