Trundled Off Runway on Post-Restoration Maiden Flight

John Latta, 79, of Santa Nells (CA), was really mad at himself after he bent his freshly-restored Stearman (file pic, right) on Monday. The Merced Sun-Star reported he said, "I don't like to wreck anything; I bent my airplane and I'll have to fix it... I finally got it back together and now it's broken."

He had been restoring the Stearman four years this time (he bought it as parts 18 years ago), and had, after five weeks' wrangling, finally gotten the Airworthiness Certificate. This was its first flight, and Latta, who says he's never bent an airplane in the 60 years he's been flying, was having a grand time with it in the air.

On landing after an hour-long, glorious flight, the report goes, Latta took a bounce, applied power for a go-around, and "...went through two barbed wire fences, struck a windmill and came to rest upside down in a small equipment yard on the ranch property." Latta, the rancher and a 5000-hour pilot, received cuts and scrapes.

**   Report created 2/6/03   Record 2  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 57414        Make/Model: B75      Description: BOEING B75N1 STEARMAN
  Date: 02/04/2003     Time: 0055
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: SANTA NELLA   State: CA   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT FLIPPED OVER WHILE LANDING, SANTA NELLA, CA.
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: METAR KMCE 040053Z 28004KT 10SM CLR 13/06 A3015
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Landing      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: UNK                         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: (3O1) GUSTINE, CA        Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont:
  Last Clearance:
  FAA FSDO: SAN JOSE, CA  (WP15)                  Entry date: 02/04/2003