Tail wheel bi-plane pilot experiences a grinding noise as the tail wheel is lowered to the runway af...

Attributes
ACN	1261306
Time
Date	201505
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	Amateur/Home Built/Experimental
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Tail Wheel
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11.7 Flight Crew Total 1740 Flight Crew Type 27.1
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

Returning from pleasure flight with light winds and favoring runway 11; and upon first landing attempt; I heard grinding when I lowered tail. I applied power and went around. I contacted the airport manager to visually inspect the tailwheel condition during a low pass. He verified that the tailwheel was missing; but didn't tell me that the forks were missing also. During the second landing attempt the aircraft tracked straight until the remainder of the tailwheel assembly touched down. The lower tail attitude (due to missing forks) startled me and I was slow to correct the right turn and ground-looped. The left lower wing barely touched the ground and the left main wheel dug into the pavement. There was no visible damage to the aircraft other than cosmetic. We then cleared the aircraft from the runway. Earlier in the day I had landed with winds variable between 320 and 030 and 8g17 knots. The tailwheel shimmied severely and I checked the pressure when I returned to the hangar and increased it from 40 psi to 50 psi. I assume the bolt end sheered during the shimmy and that caused the wheel and forks to fall off during takeoff. After severe shimmy in the future I should fully inspect the whole tailwheel assembly.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tail wheel bi-plane pilot experiences a grinding noise as the tail wheel is lowered to the runway after landing and a go around is initiated. A ground observer reports that the tail wheel is missing. During the next landing a ground loop occurs and a wing tip contacts the runway.

Narrative: Returning from pleasure flight with light winds and favoring Runway 11; and upon first landing attempt; I heard grinding when I lowered tail. I applied power and went around. I contacted the Airport Manager to visually inspect the tailwheel condition during a low pass. He verified that the tailwheel was missing; but didn't tell me that the forks were missing also. During the second landing attempt the aircraft tracked straight until the remainder of the tailwheel assembly touched down. The lower tail attitude (due to missing forks) startled me and I was slow to correct the right turn and ground-looped. The left lower wing barely touched the ground and the left main wheel dug into the pavement. There was no visible damage to the aircraft other than cosmetic. We then cleared the aircraft from the runway. Earlier in the day I had landed with winds variable between 320 and 030 and 8G17 knots. The tailwheel shimmied severely and I checked the pressure when I returned to the hangar and increased it from 40 PSI to 50 PSI. I assume the bolt end sheered during the shimmy and that caused the wheel and forks to fall off during takeoff. After severe shimmy in the future I should fully inspect the whole tailwheel assembly.

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.