ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 184827
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| Date: | Sunday 10 February 1991 |
| Time: | 11:45 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub |
| Owner/operator: | The Tiger Club (1990) Ltd |
| Registration: | G-AVPT |
| MSN: | 18-8513 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Lashendon (Headcorn) Airfield, Headcorn, Ashford, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, Kent (EGKH) |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Super Cub G-AVPT belonged to the Tiger Club. Ex-N4267Z (US Regsitry), it was first UK registered on 27 June 1967. Thus it was flown regularly by a diverse selection of pilots. However for the first twenty years of its operation by the club it seems to have had an incident free existence. Then it suffered three accidents in a row, two in consecutive years, and the last of which saw the end of its career.
On 20 August 1986 G-AVPT took off from Redhill Airfield. At about 300' it suffered a total loss of engine power. It made a forced landing in a field of standing wheat. As the pilot applied full left rudder, to avoid a fence, hedge and ditch, the Super Cub gently nosed over and inverted. The pilot, who was wearing a full harness, was uninjured.
By the following year G-AVPT had been repaired and had acquired a pair of floats. As a floatplane, on 2 May 1987 it was operating off Scotney Court Water, near Lydd. It had made several flights that day but on its last it lifted off the water, without a proper planing stage, pitched up to an abnormally high attitude, rolled to the right, inverted and struck the water in a nose down attitude. The pilot was uninjured, exited the aeroplane and sat on the inverted float to await the rescue boat. Afterwards he attributed the crash to a local variation of wind speeed/direction and the use of flaps in a too strong a wind.
Even though, in the Scotney Court Water crash, G-AVPT had suffered a shattered windscreen and a distorted right wingtip, rear fuselage, rudder and left float plus water damage resulting from 48 hours immersion, it was rebuilt. Thus by 1991 it was flying from the Tiger Club's new base at Headcorn Airfield. Until 10 February 1991, that is. On the late morning of that day, when there was still snow on the ground, it took off from Headcorn, only to experience a 'déjà vu' moment. As had happened at Redhill, four and a half years earlier, at about 300' it suffered a total loss of engine power.
This time the choice of forced landing locations was less and that chosen was less forgiving that at Redhill in 1986 - being small and crossed by overhead power lines. Less than 100 metres from it, sink was experienced, meaning that it would not be possible to overfly the cables. Thus the pilot chose to fly under them and through a hedge. Unsurprisingly, this brought the aeroplane to a halt very quickly - but with substantial damage to the airframe. The pilot and his passenger tried to exit through the door, as fuel poured into the cabin from the wing tanks, but it was jammed, and so they had to resort to using the roof and cabin window. The pilot was uninjured and the passenger suffered minor injuries. The same could not be said for the Super Cub. For it, it was not a case of 'third time lucky'. It was damaged beyond repair but its registration was not cancelled until 6 February 1997, nearly six years after the accident.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB 1991 Accident: https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/5422ee7e40f0b613420001d3/Piper_PA-18-150__G-AVPT_04-91.pdf
2. AAIB 1987 Accident: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/542300f440f0b613420009d1/Piper_PA_18-150_Super_Cub__Seaplane___G-AVPT__07-87.pdf
3. AAIB 1986 Accident: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/54230063ed915d1374000a43/Piper_PA-18-150_Super_Cub_G-AVPT_10-86.pdf
4. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-AVPT.pdf
5. https://tigerclub.co.uk/fleet/cub
6. https://www.tigerclub.co.uk/floating.html
7. G-AVPT at Sywell (EGBK) 21/6/1969: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Piper-PA-18-150-Super-Cub/1657202/L
8. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/G-AVPT
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2016 19:20 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
| 23-Nov-2020 18:41 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, Accident report] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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