- Date
- April 24, 2021, 20:00 local (Apr 25, 2021, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Palmer, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1685VCessna 140
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20210424006659A
- Case key
- 103006
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s selection of unsuitable terrain for landing and his excessive braking which resulted in a nose-over.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, he was landing on a remote unimproved gravel airstrip that was a “little soft.” After touchdown and during the landing rollout the airplane slowed rapidly, the tail began to rise and the airplane nosed-over sustaining substantial damage to fuselage, left lift strut, vertical stabilizer and rudder. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that the accident may have been prevented if he had selected a more suitable landing site or applied less brakes after touchdown.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1685V
- Reported as
- Cessna 140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 13857
- Built
- 1947
- Airframe hours
- 3,744.3
- Engine
- Cont Motor C90 SERIES, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 28, 2021
- Destination
- PAMR · Anchorage, AK
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 23, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,344 total · 124 in this make and model · 681 as pilot in command · 144 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- PAAQ, 10 nm away
- METAR
- PAAQ 250353Z AUTO 25006KT 10SM CLR 14/M03 A2993 RMK AO2 SLP139 T01441033 TSNO
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 20, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N1685V · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.