N3370EAeronca 7AC · 1947

The flight instructor on board stated that the student was performing the takeoff. As the airplane accelerated down the runway, it began to drift to the right. The instructor attempted to correct with left rudder and left brake, but the airplane still exited the runway to the right. While exiting the runway, the student attempted to takeoff and the instructor overrode the student’s actions to keep the airplane on the ground. During the aborted takeoff, the airplane impacted a steel-constructed segmented circle which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage.

The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation

The flight school's operations manager reported that the pilot was previously checked out in the accident model of airplane, and he was authorized to rent the airplane. On the day of the accident flight, the pilot and passenger departed for a planned local area flight to a neighboring airport. Air traffic control tower personnel reported that the pilot's landing approach to Runway 27L was uneventful. During the landing roll out, the airplane veered to the left of the runway. The pilot applied rudder pressure to correct the airplane's course, and the airplane veered to the right. The airplane departed the runway and contacted a 6-foot drainage ditch. The conventional landing gear sheared off, a wing lift strut bent, a wing impacted the ground, and structural tube frames/longerons in the airplane's belly were deformed upward. The pilot did not report experiencing any mechanical malfunction with the airplane during the accident flight. He stated that during the landing he had encountered a wind gust, which blew the airplane to the side of the runway. In taking corrective action to realign the airplane, he "reacted...too much." At 1539, the airport reported its surface wind was from 240 degrees at 10 knots, with 15-knot gusts.