Narrative:

The winds were reported as 170 at 11 knots gusts to 16. The tower cleared us to land on runway xx. I had landed on an intersecting runway several days before; multiple times - with these kinds of winds; in the same tailwheel equipped airplane. But this time I chose runway xx just because of the increased safety margin that the reduced crosswind component should provide. This was my 8th landing in this airplane today; albeit at a different airport. After touchdown on the main wheels I kept the tail in the air to maintain positive contact with the runway under the gusty conditions. A few seconds into the otherwise normal landing roll; two swerves one right and one left occurred. The magnitude of the second one was greater than the first. I responded to each swerve with corrective; rudder inputs but observed myself over-correcting. A third swerve; again to the right; became uncontrollable and the airplane left the runway pavement at about a 20 degree angle. This all happened within an estimated 3 seconds. The tailwheel was still in the air. We quickly approached several formidable obstacles in the vicinity of the runway; including a parked truck; the airport fence; and a brick building. I instinctively applied full brakes. The main wheels dug into the soft dirt; and the aircraft pitched forward until the propeller struck the surface. The airplane came to a stop about ten feet short of the truck; resting on both main wheels and the engine cowling. A bystander ran over to us to kindly assist in our egress from the tandem cockpit; a challenging act at this awkward pitch attitude. I had already shut off the magnetos; fuel; and battery master. We were able to climb out of the airplane without injury. The fire department showed up a little while later and pronounced the site safe for recovery activities. Possible causes for the loss of directional control: 1. The winds observed shortly after the incident appeared to be variable in direction; averaging the orientation of the runway centerline; possibly requiring corrections for left and right crosswind components in quick succession. 2. Fatigue and complacency: a long flying-day; many successful landings previously accomplished (earlier and in recent weeks - under more challenging conditions) caused me to be less attentive than necessary. I literally did not see it coming.3. With 12;000 hours of logged tailwheel time; pilot total experience should not be a significant contributing factor. Recent experience (about 20 hours in type within the last 2 months) was also no factor; in my estimation. A go around immediately initiated would have certainly avoided this mishap. But the time window to recognize the need for an aborted landing was extremely short. The lesson: in taildraggers; landings are never administrative. They should always be treated as a venture into the unknown where anything can happen.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A 12;000 hour tailwheel pilot experiences a runway excursion landing his AT6 and offers some advice.

Narrative: The winds were reported as 170 at 11 knots gusts to 16. The Tower cleared us to land on Runway XX. I had landed on an intersecting runway several days before; multiple times - with these kinds of winds; in the same tailwheel equipped airplane. But this time I chose Runway XX just because of the increased safety margin that the reduced crosswind component should provide. This was my 8th landing in this airplane today; albeit at a different airport. After touchdown on the main wheels I kept the tail in the air to maintain positive contact with the runway under the gusty conditions. A few seconds into the otherwise normal landing roll; two swerves one right and one left occurred. The magnitude of the second one was greater than the first. I responded to each swerve with corrective; rudder inputs but observed myself over-correcting. A third swerve; again to the right; became uncontrollable and the airplane left the runway pavement at about a 20 degree angle. This all happened within an estimated 3 seconds. The tailwheel was still in the air. We quickly approached several formidable obstacles in the vicinity of the runway; including a parked truck; the airport fence; and a brick building. I instinctively applied full brakes. The main wheels dug into the soft dirt; and the aircraft pitched forward until the propeller struck the surface. The airplane came to a stop about ten feet short of the truck; resting on both main wheels and the engine cowling. A bystander ran over to us to kindly assist in our egress from the tandem cockpit; a challenging act at this awkward pitch attitude. I had already shut off the magnetos; fuel; and battery master. We were able to climb out of the airplane without injury. The fire department showed up a little while later and pronounced the site safe for recovery activities. Possible causes for the loss of directional control: 1. The winds observed shortly after the incident appeared to be variable in direction; averaging the orientation of the runway centerline; possibly requiring corrections for left and right crosswind components in quick succession. 2. Fatigue and Complacency: a long flying-day; many successful landings previously accomplished (earlier and in recent weeks - under more challenging conditions) caused me to be less attentive than necessary. I literally did not see it coming.3. With 12;000 hours of logged tailwheel time; pilot total experience should not be a significant contributing factor. Recent experience (about 20 hours in type within the last 2 months) was also no factor; in my estimation. A go around immediately initiated would have certainly avoided this mishap. But the time window to recognize the need for an aborted landing was extremely short. The lesson: in taildraggers; landings are never administrative. They should always be treated as a venture into the unknown where anything can happen.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.