J3 Cub
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10; Flight Crew Total 1600; Flight Crew Type 100
Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Aircraft; Weather; Procedure
Lost directional control on landing rollout (ground loop). Had a slight quartering tail wind. Was approaching from the south as there are fewer obstacles when landing on this narrow 1800ft strip. Aircraft departed the runway to the right. Did not do a full ground loop but sunk into an earthen drainage channel off the side of the runway. There was no damage to the aircraft that would require a report. Fortunately there was no prop strike but it was close. My error was that the aircraft was not fully stalled at touch down and the tail wheel had not made good contact with the runway surface. I should have held it off the runway surface a bit longer to achieve good slow speed directional control. A contributing factor is that the standard cub brakes are not very good. Better brakes would have allowed me to stop before sinking into the drainage channel.
J3 Cub pilot reported that a ground loop and runway excursion resulted after landing with a quartering tailwind.