RV8 pilot reports losing control of his aircraft during landing in a crosswind and departing the run...

Attributes
ACN	1109539
Time
Date	201308
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	RV-8
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 7000 Flight Crew Type 120
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Object Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Object

Narrative:

Crosswind landing on runway xxr. Winds called at 240/10. After a good wheel landing; when the tail wheel touched the runway; the airplane weather-vaned into the wind. I was unable to prevent the airplane from angling to the right and the airplane departed the runway surface. After traveling a hundred ft or so in the gravel; the airplane came to rest on asphalt where a taxiway exits runway xxr. While travelling through the gravel; the aircraft hit the taxiway identification sign. The sign damaged the right wing and the right fuel tank. I called tower; shut down the engine and turned off the master switch; and egressed the airplane. I was able to pull [it] about 50 ft off the tower/ground controlled taxiway to the fuel pumps. An inspection of the tail wheel assembly and rudder control cables is forthcoming.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: RV8 pilot reports losing control of his aircraft during landing in a crosswind and departing the runway causing some damage to the aircraft and an airport sign.

Narrative: Crosswind landing on RWY XXR. Winds called at 240/10. After a good wheel landing; when the tail wheel touched the runway; the airplane weather-vaned into the wind. I was unable to prevent the airplane from angling to the right and the airplane departed the runway surface. After traveling a hundred FT or so in the gravel; the airplane came to rest on asphalt where a taxiway exits RWY XXR. While travelling through the gravel; the aircraft hit the taxiway identification sign. The sign damaged the right wing and the right fuel tank. I called Tower; shut down the engine and turned off the master switch; and egressed the airplane. I was able to pull [it] about 50 FT off the Tower/Ground controlled taxiway to the fuel pumps. An inspection of the tail wheel assembly and rudder control cables is forthcoming.

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.