Narrative:

I have been working with a female private pilot for several months to get her tail wheel endorsement in a maule. At the time of the incident she had approximately 15 hours of dual instruction in the maule and approximately 19 hours of tail wheel instruction in general. After completing several stop-and-gos; I determined she was ready to solo the airplane with the restriction the she stay in the pattern. At the time of the incident the wind was completely calm; a factor in my decision to let her fly the plane solo. Her first pattern was quite acceptable; and her landing was very good; as witnessed and commented on by myself as well as another local pilot who was standing with me as she landed. On the roll out from her landing the plane turned left while traveling at approximately 15 mph. She over-corrected and consequently started a low speed right turn ground loop. I instructed her via VHF handheld radio to taxi to where I was standing. The other pilot and I inspected the plane and determined that there was no damage to either main landing gear or tires; nor was there any damage to the tail wheel. I got back in the plane with my student and we did approximately 5-6 more patterns. Her first landing after I got back in was not very good; which I attributed to nerves and anxiousness on her part; both from having just flown the plane solo and her previous over-correction. I then demonstrated the proper landing technique with her on the controls with me; emphasizing proper flare height and the importance of maintaining directional control after landing in the subsequent roll out. We did approximately 4 more stop-and-gos; during which each of her landings were very acceptable. No directional control issues came up; and I never had to provide verbal input or assist on the controls. We taxied off the runway and I asked her how she was feeling; and she said she felt more confident. I then asked if she felt like she was up to giving a solo traffic pattern another try; to which she responded that she did; that she wanted to 'make up' for her first solo landing. I again got out of the plane; and after a normal take off and pattern; she again made a normal 3 point landing. As she was rolling out; at approximately 25 mph; she started to turn left again. Suddenly I heard the engine pitch change from idle to what seemed to me like full power; and the plane veered hard to the left and then ground looped quite rapidly. The right main gear was swept under the fuselage; and the airplane came to rest on its belly with the engine still at a high power setting. I told my student via handheld VHF radio to shut the engine off; which she did. No one was injured in the incident. The right main gear was folded under; and the tail wheel was broken off. Also; the propeller made contact with the ground; resulting in minor damage to the tips of both blades. As I'm writing this; I feel the primary factor that lead to this incident was the student's overall lack of experience; both in maules and in aircraft in general. Even though I feel my student was prepared and competent to solo the maule; perhaps simply making her get more flight time before allowing her to do so would have increased her comfort level in the plane. At the time I decided to let her solo the airplane; she was demonstrating proper control techniques; but I believe that her limited experience led to her panicking when the plane started to turn left; resulting in the inappropriate response of increasing throttle to full power; which greatly exacerbated the situation. She even commented afterwards that she didn't remember adding throttle; and was confused when she stopped that the engine was still at a high power setting. Also; I feel I learned a valuable lesson regarding how far and/or hard to push my students. While she indicated that she wanted to make a second attempt at a solo pattern; I now believe we should have waited until the next day; or a laterdate before allowing her to do so. Perhaps my student would have been better off having a chance to calm down and evaluate the situation for a couple of days before trying again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Instructor describes the circumstances leading up to a ground loop and collapsed gear during his students second solo landing in a tail wheel aircraft.

Narrative: I have been working with a female private pilot for several months to get her tail wheel endorsement in a Maule. At the time of the incident she had approximately 15 hours of dual instruction in the Maule and approximately 19 hours of tail wheel instruction in general. After completing several stop-and-gos; I determined she was ready to solo the airplane with the restriction the she stay in the pattern. At the time of the incident the wind was completely calm; a factor in my decision to let her fly the plane solo. Her first pattern was quite acceptable; and her landing was very good; as witnessed and commented on by myself as well as another local pilot who was standing with me as she landed. On the roll out from her landing the plane turned left while traveling at approximately 15 mph. She over-corrected and consequently started a low speed right turn ground loop. I instructed her via VHF handheld radio to taxi to where I was standing. The other pilot and I inspected the plane and determined that there was no damage to either main landing gear or tires; nor was there any damage to the tail wheel. I got back in the plane with my student and we did approximately 5-6 more patterns. Her first landing after I got back in was not very good; which I attributed to nerves and anxiousness on her part; both from having just flown the plane solo and her previous over-correction. I then demonstrated the proper landing technique with her on the controls with me; emphasizing proper flare height and the importance of maintaining directional control after landing in the subsequent roll out. We did approximately 4 more stop-and-gos; during which each of her landings were very acceptable. No directional control issues came up; and I never had to provide verbal input or assist on the controls. We taxied off the runway and I asked her how she was feeling; and she said she felt more confident. I then asked if she felt like she was up to giving a solo traffic pattern another try; to which she responded that she did; that she wanted to 'make up' for her first solo landing. I again got out of the plane; and after a normal take off and pattern; she again made a normal 3 point landing. As she was rolling out; at approximately 25 mph; she started to turn left again. Suddenly I heard the engine pitch change from idle to what seemed to me like full power; and the plane veered hard to the left and then ground looped quite rapidly. The right main gear was swept under the fuselage; and the airplane came to rest on its belly with the engine still at a high power setting. I told my student via handheld VHF radio to shut the engine off; which she did. No one was injured in the incident. The right main gear was folded under; and the tail wheel was broken off. Also; the propeller made contact with the ground; resulting in minor damage to the tips of both blades. As I'm writing this; I feel the primary factor that lead to this incident was the student's overall lack of experience; both in Maules and in aircraft in general. Even though I feel my student was prepared and competent to solo the Maule; perhaps simply making her get more flight time before allowing her to do so would have increased her comfort level in the plane. At the time I decided to let her solo the airplane; she was demonstrating proper control techniques; but I believe that her limited experience led to her panicking when the plane started to turn left; resulting in the inappropriate response of increasing throttle to full power; which greatly exacerbated the situation. She even commented afterwards that she didn't remember adding throttle; and was confused when she stopped that the engine was still at a high power setting. Also; I feel I learned a valuable lesson regarding how far and/or hard to push my students. While she indicated that she wanted to make a second attempt at a solo pattern; I now believe we should have waited until the next day; or a laterdate before allowing her to do so. Perhaps my student would have been better off having a chance to calm down and evaluate the situation for a couple of days before trying again.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.