CEN12LA593

The flight instructor was getting the pilot familiarized in his new tail wheel-equipped airplane. A week before the accident, the flight instructor and the pilot flew the airplane and the pilot made several uneventful landings even though the instructor noted that it was difficult to apply pressure on the rudder pedals without engaging the brakes. On the day of the accident, the pilot made two uneventful landings on a hard-surface runway before landing on grass due to a wind shift. The pilot's first grass landing was uneventful. However, on the second landing, the pilot applied too much brake pressure and the airplane nosed over. The flight instructor said the accident happened so fast that he did not have enough time to tell the pilot to get off the brakes.

On August 30, 2012, at 1030 eastern standard time, an amateur built-experimental Kitfox 5, N84KF, sustained substantial damage when it nosed-over on landing at the Wood County Airport (1G0), Bowling Green, Ohio. The flight instructor and the pilot were not injured. The unregistered airplane was owned and operated by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local instructional flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.According to the flight instructor, the purpose of the flight was to get the pilot familiarized with his new tail wheel-equipped airplane. The pilot had not flown for several years and was trying to get current. The flight instructor said they had flown the airplane the week before the accident and the pilot had made several uneventful landings. The flight instructor noted that when flying the airplane "it was exceptionally easy to apply the brakes accidentally while intending to only operate the rudders, and that the rudders had the undesirable characteristic of being sensitive, but also requiring above average force to actuate." The flight instructor said that on the day of the accident the pilot made two uneventful landings on runway 18 (hard surface) before they switched to a grassy area that was parallel to runway 28 due to a wind shift. The pilot made one uneventful landing on the grass. The flight instructor said the pilot landed smoothly on the second landing, but on the landing roll, he applied too much pressure on the brakes and the airplane nosed over. This resulted in substantial damage to the wing struts, rudder, and elevator. The flight instructor said the accident happened so fast that he did not have time to tell the pilot to get off the brakes and tried to correct the situation by pulling full aft on the control stick.