- Date
- June 17, 2025, 13:24 local (18:24 UTC)
- Place
- Sealy, TX
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N852BJVans RV-14
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- 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
- FAA report
- 20250617007589A
- Case key
- 200341
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 improper use of airplane’s wheel brakes during the landing roll-out.
Findings · 3
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 reported that he landed his tailwheel airplane within the first third of the runway; however, the end of the runway was approaching quickly. He firmly applied brakes before the tailwheel was on the ground, and the nose of the airplane tipped forward and the propeller hit the runway. The airplane flipped and came to rest right side up on the runway. The fuselage, wings, and empennage sustained substantial damaged. The pilot said that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N852BJ
- Reported as
- Vans RV-14
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 140856
- Built
- 2023
- Airframe hours
- 236.86
- Engine
- Lycoming YAE-IO-390 EXP 119, 215 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special); Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 28, 2024
- Departed
- KHBZ · Heber Springs, AR
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 1XA7 · Gloster Aerodrome, runway 27, 2,200 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator, Auto-pilot, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 73
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Military, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 11, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 20,500 total · 284 in this make and model · 17,000 as pilot in command · 13.9 in the last 90 days · 8.8 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,500 ft
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 2993.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KTME, 9 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.2 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.