- Date
- March 13, 2024, 17:50 local (21:50 UTC)
- Place
- Grind Stone City, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4159YBellanca 8GCBC
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: 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 FSDO
- Case key
- 193936
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 directional control during the landing roll on a wet turf runway with a quartering tailwind.
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 was conducting a flight in a tailwheel equipped airplane. During the landing, the airplane bounced, and then settled back to the runway. The tail of the airplane rose, the nose of the airplane dropped, and the propeller struck the ground. The airplane came to rest inverted resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, both wings, and wing struts. The pilot noted that the airstrip was more wet than he anticipated. The pilot reported that the airplane had no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. Wind conditions at the time of the accident were from 120° at 9 knots, the pilot landed on runway 36.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4159Y
- Reported as
- Bellanca 8GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23877
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 2,105.27
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360 C2E, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Bauer Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 7, 2023
- Departed
- 60D · Reese, MI
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 29C · Grindstone Air Harbor, runway 36, 1,800 × 85 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS
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
- 30
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 14, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 104.7 total · 5.4 in this make and model · 39.7 as pilot in command · 24.4 in the last 90 days · 8.4 in the last 30 days · 1.6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 9 knots
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.91 inHg
- Observed at
- KP58, 5 nm away
- METAR
- KP58 132155Z AUTO 12009KT 07/02 A2991 RMK AO1 SLP131 T00720022,M
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 9, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.6 MB in all.