- Date
- September 10, 2013, 06:00 local (12:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mullen, NE
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N611WESwedener Rans S-6ES
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 4, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Case key
- 88034
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 gopher holes and soft terrain the airplane encountered, which resulted in the airplane nosing over.
Findings · 1
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 landed the airplane at a private airstrip where the airplane contacted gopher mounds and soft ground. The nose landing gear collapsed, the airplane nosed over, and it sustained substantial empennage damage. The pilot said that there were no airplane mechanical malfunctions.
Factual narrative
The pilot landed the airplane at a private airstrip where the airplane contacted gopher mounds and soft ground. The nose landing gear collapsed, the airplane nosed over, and it sustained substantial empennage damage. The pilot said that there were no airplane mechanical malfunctions.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N611WE
- Reported as
- Swedener Rans S-6ES
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 08051684
- Airframe hours
- 412
- Engine
- Rotax 912UL, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Swendener
- Registered owner
- Swendener
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · May 18, 2013
- Departed
- BUB · Burwell, NE
- Destination
- PVT · Mullen, NE
- Airport
- PVT · Private Airstrip
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
- 63
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- August 19, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 471.5 total · 422 in this make and model · 427 as pilot in command · 47 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 3.5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- KTIF, 22 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 20, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 617 KB in all.