Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120; Flight Crew Total 7700; Flight Crew Type 25
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Weather
Experienced a low speed groundloop upon rollout. Aircraft veered right. No damage was noted to the runway; lights; or median and we verified that no damage to the aircraft occurred. ATIS was calling winds at 350/7; tower reported winds variable at 6 kts. On short final we picked up the windsock which was indicating the wind to be close to the 350/7 reported on ATIS. We considered a go around; and ask for an approach to runway 35; and in hindsight should have. The touch down (wheel landing) and initial rollout was fine even as the tailwheel touched down. The wind must have had enough push to initiate the groundloop at what I'd estimate to be about 20 KIAS and at this point; with little to no rudder effectiveness and the tailwheel locked; we lost command of directional control. We used brakes to control the stop to their max performance. The three wheels maintained contact with the ground throughout the incident and the aircraft came to a relatively gentle stop in the grass. We then taxied clear of the median and to the ramp without incident.
A Kinner Sportster pilot reported a low speed ground loop when a light crosswind caused loss of directional control on landing roll.