Aeronca 7AC instructor and student pilot reported loss of directional control on landing due at leas...

Attributes
ACN	1293429
Time
Date	201509
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Champion Citabria Undifferentiated
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11 Flight Crew Total 1075 Flight Crew Type 2
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 43 Flight Crew Total 1055 Flight Crew Type 620
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Ground Event / Encounter Object Ground Excursion Runway

Narrative:

During tailwheel flight training with an instructor I completed 8 landings in a slight crosswind to a full stop. We noticed tailwheel shimmy during the landings. The last takeoff was a crosswind wheel takeoff departing to home base. For landing we established a glide slope appropriate for a 60 mph touchdown. After flare the aircraft touched down smoothly but initiated a drift to the left. Full right rudder had no effect on the diversion and as we slowed the aircraft veered further to the left into tall grass and then impacted a clump of bushes with the right wing damaging the leading edge of the right wing.after exiting the plane we noticed the right tailwheel spring was missing. Inspection of the grass runway showed touchdown on the centerline with the tailwheel dragging an approximately 4 inch wide [groove] in the grass all the way off the left side of the runway.corrective actions: tailwheel shimmy should have been inspected by an a&P before we departed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Aeronca 7AC instructor and student pilot reported loss of directional control on landing due at least in part to a missing tailwheel spring.

Narrative: During tailwheel flight training with an instructor I completed 8 landings in a slight crosswind to a full stop. We noticed tailwheel shimmy during the landings. The last takeoff was a crosswind wheel takeoff departing to home base. For landing we established a glide slope appropriate for a 60 mph touchdown. After flare the aircraft touched down smoothly but initiated a drift to the left. Full right rudder had no effect on the diversion and as we slowed the aircraft veered further to the left into tall grass and then impacted a clump of bushes with the right wing damaging the leading edge of the right wing.After exiting the plane we noticed the right tailwheel spring was missing. Inspection of the grass runway showed touchdown on the centerline with the tailwheel dragging an approximately 4 inch wide [groove] in the grass all the way off the left side of the runway.Corrective actions: tailwheel shimmy should have been inspected by an A&P before we departed.

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.