Cessna 170B pilot lost control on landing; dragging left wing and exiting the runway.

Narrative:

Landing on runway 09 about 5 minutes behind a light jet. Winds reported on ATIS as 140 at 4 KTS. Immediately following initial contact of main gear wheels with runway; a swerve to the right developed quickly and could not be controlled with application of left rudder and brake. As swerve steepened; the aircraft tilted to the left and the left wing tip scraped the runway. The aircraft stopped just off the right side of the runway at an angle of between 45 and 90 degrees to the right of the runway heading. I was able to taxi back onto the runway and via taxiway to the ramp. A visual inspection of the aircraft revealed scrape marks on the underside of the left wing tip and wrinkles on the top and bottom trailing surfaces of the left wing. The navigation and strobe lights on the left wing tip were undamaged and the leading edge appeared unmarked and straight. The yoke control of the left aileron appeared smooth and unaffected. There were no injuries and no apparent substantial damage to the aircraft. A possible cause of the initial swerve might have been a gust from the left-quartering tailwind. If so; the swerve might have been avoided by asking for and receiving permission from ATC for a landing on runway 27; which would have resulted in a quartering headwind; which would have been easier to control for in a tailwheel airplane such as the cessna 170-B. This was not requested because the wind was reported on the ATIS as only 4 KTS and was not reported as gusting.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 170B pilot lost control on landing; dragging left wing and exiting the runway.

Narrative: Landing on Runway 09 about 5 minutes behind a light jet. Winds reported on ATIS as 140 at 4 KTS. Immediately following initial contact of main gear wheels with runway; a swerve to the right developed quickly and could not be controlled with application of left rudder and brake. As swerve steepened; the aircraft tilted to the left and the left wing tip scraped the runway. The aircraft stopped just off the right side of the runway at an angle of between 45 and 90 degrees to the right of the runway heading. I was able to taxi back onto the runway and via taxiway to the ramp. A visual inspection of the aircraft revealed scrape marks on the underside of the left wing tip and wrinkles on the top and bottom trailing surfaces of the left wing. The navigation and strobe lights on the left wing tip were undamaged and the leading edge appeared unmarked and straight. The yoke control of the left aileron appeared smooth and unaffected. There were no injuries and no apparent substantial damage to the aircraft. A possible cause of the initial swerve might have been a gust from the left-quartering tailwind. If so; the swerve might have been avoided by asking for and receiving permission from ATC for a landing on Runway 27; which would have resulted in a quartering headwind; which would have been easier to control for in a tailwheel airplane such as the Cessna 170-B. This was not requested because the wind was reported on the ATIS as only 4 KTS and was not reported as gusting.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	834019
Time
Date	200904
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	SAV.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 170
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 34.8 Flight Crew Total 230.5 Flight Crew Type 74.6
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Ground Excursion Runway Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter