- Date
- November 5, 2007, 11:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Cortez, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6ZTPiper PA-18-150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20071105824669A
- Case key
- 67049
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 passenger's inadvertent application of brakes, causing the airplane to nose over on landing. A contributing factor was the pilot's failure top adequately brief the passenger.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot made a full-stall (conventional) landing. When the airplane touched down, he felt "a sudden slowing of the aircraft" and the "tail rapidly coming up." He yelled at the passenger to get his feet off the brake pedals. The pilot said the "passenger had no idea he was touching the brake pedals as he braces himself for landing." The airplane then nosed over during the landing rollout.
Factual narrative
The pilot made a full-stall (conventional) landing. When the airplane touched down, he felt "a sudden slowing of the aircraft" and the "tail rapidly coming up." He yelled at the passenger to get his feet off the brake pedals. The pilot said the "passenger had no idea he was touching the brake pedals as he brace[d] himself for landing." The airplane then nosed over during landing rollout.
Asked how this accident could have been prevented, the pilot wrote: "Always warn passengers about the dual controls and to be sure they know where the pedals are [and] to keep their feet completely away from them, especially during landing."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6ZT
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-5824
- Airframe hours
- 5,709
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Eddie L. Lewis
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 2007
- Departed
- CEZ · Cortez, CO
- Destination
- CEZ · Cortez, CO
- Airport
- CEZ · Cortez Municipal, runway 03, 7,205 × 100 ft, asphalt
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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 1, 2007
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 544 total · 61 in this make and model · 510 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 9 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.32 inHg
- Observed at
- CEZ
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.