The pilot of a homebuilt Super Cub replica that encountered severe aileron flutter on a blustery November day in Michigan told the NTSB he tried different speeds and power settings to stop the violent flapping before he opted for a precautionary landing in high winds that ended with the aircraft on its back. As we reported late last month, the pilot and his passenger suffered slight injuries in the flip. In a preliminary report released Thursday, the NTSB said despite the pilot’s best efforts, “the ailerons contacted their mechanical stops, the horizontal stabilizer moved up and down vigorously, and the control stick was forced toward all corners of its travel range.” He first thought of diverting to a grass strip at Sawyer, Michigan, but considered it unsafe and headed to Southwest Michigan Regional Airport in Benton Harbor.
The pilot told the NTSB he couldn’t get the wind information on his handheld radio because he was “managing the control difficulties that were being experienced.” Despite the wind howling at 27 knots gusting to 43 from a 40° angle, he managed to put it down on the main gear using maximum control inputs, but during the rollout “the airplane veered right, the right wing contacted the runway, and the airplane nosed over,” according to the report.
He did it right!
That’s a 26 knot headwind with a crosswind component of 21. Yeah, I would say the pilot did the right thing. With a 43 knot gusting, there is really not much you can do.
Causation? Was this a build defect, design defect, a known occurrence? Glad the pilot had is act together.
good job keeping cool. as a pax,it would scared the hell out me ret.a&p