- Date
- November 15, 2013, 13:40 local (19:40 UTC)
- Place
- Cypress, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N721DLAviat A 1B
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 19, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Houston FSDO
- FAA report
- 20131115021809A
- Case key
- 88446
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 failure to maintain control during landing which resulted in an impact with the runway surface.
Findings · 2
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 was making a wheel landing to a smooth dry grass runway in a tail-wheel equipped airplane. Immediately after touchdown the nose began to pitch down and the pilot's corrective inputs were unsuccessful. The propeller contacted the ground, the tail came up, and the airplane flipped and came to rest inverted. The impact resulted in substantial damage to the left wing, left strut, left aileron, vertical fin and rudder. The pilot reported that he did not react quickly enough to the downward pitching attitude.
Factual narrative
The pilot was making a wheel landing to a smooth dry grass runway in a tail-wheel equipped airplane. Immediately after touchdown the nose began to pitch down and the pilot's corrective inputs were unsuccessful. The propeller contacted the ground, the tail came up, and the airplane flipped and came to rest inverted. The impact resulted in substantial damage to the left wing, left strut, left aileron, vertical fin and rudder. The pilot reported that he did not react quickly enough to the downward pitching attitude.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N721DL
- Reported as
- Aviat A 1B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2254
- Built
- 2003
- Airframe hours
- 266
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 12, 2013
- Departed
- T51 · Cypress, TX
- Destination
- T51 · Cypress, TX
- Airport
- T51 · Dan Jones Intl, runway 17, 3,440 × 50 ft, grass/turf
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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 1, 2012
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 29,000 total · 121 in this make and model · 23,000 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,600 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KDWH, 6 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 16, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 474 KB 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.