Piper L18C Super Cub, G-BJWZ, 8 June 2008
Piper L18C Super Cub, G-BJWZ
Summary:
The approach to land on Runway 01 at Eshott was normal. After touchdown the aircraft decelerated suddenly, veering to the right and tipping onto its nose before almost immediately coming to a halt, angled at about 45 degrees to the runway centreline, forty metres past the threshold. The speed of events was such that the pilot was unclear what had happened. On vacating the aircraft, the pilot, who was uninjured, noted that the left wheel had shed its tyre and tube during the landing run and that the left brake pipe had been severed. Since the aircraft is equipped with heel brakes, which require the pilot to move his feet backwards slightly before application, the accident pilot does not think he touched down with the brakes applied. He nonetheless considers he may have applied some braking once on the ground; this may have caused the aircraft to swing to the right given the damage inflicted to the left brake pipe. The Grove disc brake modification had been embodied on this aircraft. The routing of the pipe to the brake caliper is such that it passes below the disc, rendering it vulnerable to damage once the tyre has deflated. The primary causal factor in the accident was the deflation of the left tyre.
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