This is from an email we shared today:
I think it would be a great idea to post pics and a note as to what happened durring this incident. I would hate for anyone else to experience what I went through. It was not fun. There is nothing worse than being out of control of your aircraft. Its a really bad feeling. I made a nice soft 3 point touchdown right on the centerline. I didn't feel anything abnormal or hear any strange noises. About 20ft after touchdown, power off, the plane just started to steer to the right. I went to hit the left brake and rudder pedal to counter the drift, and the pedal was LOCKED. There was no movement, like it was welded. Thats when things started to happen fast. I told Richard right as it was happening over the intercom. As the plane started to get sideways on the runway, I put in hard right aleron to keep the wing from dipping. As it skidded off the runway, missing the runway light by about 20ft, it spun around on the left main gear as it went down the embankment and settled tail first into the drainage ditch. That is where the elevator got bent. I believe that due to the lack of control on the runway, that the tailwheel spring gave out just after landing, and pulled the tailwheel assembly completely off and kicked out to the right, bending my lower rudder, and locking me in a permanent hard right steer. The break point of the tailwheel spring would have never been noticed durring an "on the plane" inspection because the break point was under the retaining bracket at the bottom of the vertical stabilizer, completely covered. The sad thing is that we did a pretty thourogh annual on this plane just a couple months ago. I never would have thought to remove the spring for inspection. If we did, this whole incident would have been avoided.
