Ground loop and aftermath

[PropMan]

I'm bumping this old thread to share an experience that has put my Bearhawk build on hold for several years.

About two months before the OP's accident I experienced a ground loop in a Luscombe 8A. I'd been scratch-building a Bearhawk LSA for several years, and flying my Legal Eagle XL. I'd logged about 170 hrs. in the LE, and about 1,000 landings, and about 30 hrs. in a J3, in which I did my initial tailwheel training. I somehow convinced my wife to let me buy a flying Luscombe, and spent a couple months dealing with maintenance issues.

When it was finally ready for serious flying, I found a tailwheel instructor to help me with transition training. He was an older guy with about 4,000 hours, and had trained others in Luscombes, but I don't know how current he was in tailwheel--and didn't ask. Our first flight went well but ended with a pretty wobbly landing. The Luscombe has much more touchy controls than what I was used to, so I attributed this to over-controlling. I mentioned to the CFI that it felt like he was fighting me on the rudder pedals; he asked how that landing had compared with my previous experience.

On the next flight I was determined to get the landing perfect, and promised myself I wouldn't over-control the airplane. That flight was kind of a nightmare. The CFI had gone on a very long ride on his road bike that morning and was getting sever leg cramps. He was also flying the plane so uncoordinated the ball was slamming the sides of the gauge. At one point he asked me if he was pushing the rudder pedal because his leg was cramping up.

When we entered the pattern for our first landing (at the end of the flight, in this case), we had to extend our downwind because there was a C-172 right ahead of us. I raised the concern of wake turbulence because there was a light, quartering tailwind and this was a paved, one-way strip, but the CFI said it shouldn't be a problem. To my relief, we touched down on the numbers, pointed straight down the runway's centerline. And then I felt the right wing lift and the nose swing right. I punched the left rudder and the nose swung back. We fishtailed and then ground looped into the ditch.

The plane sustained substantial damage and we took a big loss on it. The event was so devastating that I could hardly imagine continuing flying. I put my Bearhawk project in storage and decommissioned my Legal Eagle. At this point all my flying had been tailwheel, but this event just felt like I'd never been in a plane before. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I suspect we hit some wake turbulence and I panicked and over-corrected.

My experience with the Cub was that it was docile and forgiving. You plop it down and give it a little guidance with the pedals, and you're good. The Luscombe was a different animal. If you do something wrong in a Luscombe, the next thing you do had better be just right. My question for the Bearhawk community is how does the BH-LSA compare to other light tailwheel aircraft? Is it more like a Cub, or more like a Luscombe? I've gathered a lot of great advice on this thread, but I'd love to hear comments about how ground handling compares. I want to get building again, but I'm a bit gun-shy after that experience.

Cheers!

I've never flown a Luscombe first off. I find the LSA very similar to the Aeronca 65TC or even a Champ when it comes to ground handling. To me its much easier to fly and land compared to the Legal Eagle. So far I've got about 34 hours in the LSA. Had 15 or so in my LE before I sold it. And 50ish in the 65TC before I sold that one. The gear is great, I've started working on short field landings and its very forgiving if one drops it in a couple feet, hardly any bounce. Much better than a Rans S7s if one drops it in, lol. And to add, its quite different in the air and ground compared to the S7s. Not bad different, just not the same. Saying that with over 300 hours in the S7s.
LSA is a Great plane, just keep it light and Simple