Piper Single Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 74; Flight Crew Total 425; Flight Crew Type 4
Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Human Factors; Weather
As part of my job as a CFI for a local flight school; I was looking to add tailwheel instruction to my list of instruction services I provide. I have about 15 total tailwheel hours; but very little recent experience. In order to improve proficiency; I went up with an instructor the day before the ground loop to get tailwheel current and get some additional training. We flew for an hour and did four full stop landings on the airfield's grass runway; and all were straight; and no issues came up during any of these landings that would suggest I needed additional training. On the day of the ground loop; the winds had shifted to be about 8 knots directly down the asphalt runway so I chose to use that one rather than the grass which would have had a 90-degree crosswind. During my first approach; I made a low pass to verify the sight picture in my mind and double check any wind correction that may need to be done. I executed a go around and came around for another uneventful approach to a planned 3-point landing. After a smooth touchdown with the airplane rolling down the runway; a gust lifted the right wing and a yaw to the left. My corrective actions did not prevent the airplane from ground looping. Upon reflection; there was a moment where I should have applied power to try to stop the yaw and execute a go-around. However; I believe my ego got in the way since I've been flying more than I ever have that I could 'save' the landing despite teaching my students to default to a go-around when things aren't looking right. My overconfidence in my skills; combined with ego resulted in me trying to save the rollout rather than going around. I also believe more than an hour of recurrent training prior to flying a tailwheel airplane is required; even though I have been flying a lot lately.
Flight Instructor flying a PA-16 aircraft reports ground loop on landing rollout.