- Date
- August 16, 2020, 09:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Rice, MN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N997QCGrumman G164
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards
- FAA report
- 20200816012759A
- Case key
- 101804
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 did not maintain control of the airplane during the landing.
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 en route to spray a field when he received a call over the company radio to return to the airport. He returned for landing with the full application load. The airstrip consisted of gravel and asphalt; grass areas bordered the runway. The main wheels touched down near the runway threshold; the initial portion of the runway was gravel. The tail wheel settled onto the runway as the airspeed dissipated, and the pilot brought the propeller into reverse. However, the tailwheel encountered a “bump” which started some pitch oscillations; this might have occurred at the transition from gravel to asphalt. The pilot reported no elevator or rudder authority, possibly due to the reduced airflow over the empennage resulting from the reverse thrust. He noted that a go-around was not an option at that point. The airplane yawed to the right and departed the paved area, proceeded into the grass area, and finally into the soft ground adjacent to the runway causing the airplane to nose over. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N997QC
- Reported as
- Grumman G164 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 568B
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 9,938
- Engine
- Honeywell TPE-331-1-101, 665 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 17, 2019
- Departed
- PVT · Rice, MN
- Destination
- PVT · Rice, MN
- Airport
- PVT · Private, runway 18, 2,200 × 70 ft, gravel
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 12, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 8,765 total · 495 in this make and model · 8,765 as pilot in command · 465 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 0 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- LXL, 12 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 21, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 39.2 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.