- Date
- July 23, 2011, 11:15 local (15:15 UTC)
- Place
- Rockland, ME
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8872Dehavilland Tiger Moth DH 82A
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 29, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20110723014859A
- Case key
- 81215
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 a proper approach path during 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 stated that he was landing at the conclusion of a local flight. As the airplane passed over the runway threshold the airplane's main landing gear contacted high grass. The airplane nosed over and impacted the runway inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and both left and right top wings. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane prior to the accident, and that the accident could have been prevented by conducting a higher approach to landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he was landing at the conclusion of a local flight. As the airplane passed over the runways threshold the airplane's main landing gear contacted high grass. The airplane nosed over and impacted the runway inverted, resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and both left and right top wings. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane, and that the accident could have been prevented by conducting a higher approach to landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8872
- Reported as
- Dehavilland Tiger Moth DH 82A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- PG.625
- Airframe hours
- 3,410
- Engine
- Morris Motors GIPSY MAJOR, 130 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Owls Head Transportation Museum
- Registered owner
- Alton E Cianchette
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 10, 2011
- Departed
- RKD · Rockland, ME
- Destination
- RKD · Rockland, ME
- Airport
- RKD · Knox County, runway 21R, 1,600 × 150 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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 4, 2010
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 2,075 total · 26 in this make and model · 40 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.82 inHg
- Observed at
- RKD
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 14, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 332 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.
Other investigations on N8872 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.