- Date
- June 11, 2012, 13:53 local (17:53 UTC)
- Place
- Delmar, DE
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7055KNorth American AT-6C
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing area overshoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 26, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120611010629A
- Case key
- 83949
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 go around after not attaining the proper touchdown point, which resulted in a runway excursion and noseover.
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
According to the pilot, who was delivering the recently-sold vintage military trainer, he first landed the airplane at a paved airport near the new owner's farm. The new owner then asked the pilot to fly the airplane to a dirt airstrip on the farm. The pilot went to the airstrip with the new owner, determined that it was acceptable for landing, and later returned with the airplane. During the landing flare, the airplane floated due to, what the pilot later surmised, convective currents from the hot soil. The airplane subsequently touched down long and overran the end of the 1,380-foot airstrip. During the overrun, the airplane encountered a soft spot in the adjoining onion field and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the rudder and vertical fin. The landing direction was to the north, while the nearest recorded airport weather indicated that the wind was from the east at 5 knots. There were no preexisting mechanical anomalies noted with the airplane.
Factual narrative
According to the delivery pilot of the recently-sold vintage military trainer, he first landed the airplane at a paved airport near the new owner's farm. The new owner then asked the pilot to fly the airplane to a dirt airstrip on the farm. The pilot subsequently went to the airstrip with the new owner, determined that it was acceptable, and later returned with the airplane. During the landing flare, the airplane floated from what the pilot later surmised were convective currents from the hot soil. It subsequently touched down long and overran the end of the 1,380-foot airstrip. During the overrun, the airplane encountered a soft spot in the adjoining onion field and nosed over, damaging the rudder and vertical fin. The landing direction was to the north, while the nearest recorded airport weather indicated that the winds were from the east at 5 knots. There were no preexisting mechanical anomalies noted with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7055K
- Reported as
- North American AT-6C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 50-709E
- Airframe hours
- 5,975
- Engine
- Pratt and Whitney R-1340-AN-1, 650 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Wayne E. Bailey
- Registered owner
- Wayne E. Bailey
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 30, 2011 · 55 hours before
- Departed
- SBY · Salisbury, MD
- Destination
- NONE · Delmar, DE
- Airport
- NONE · Private Airstrip, runway 36, 1,380 × 500 ft, dirt
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
- 69
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 11, 2011
- Flight hours
- 19,530 total · 119,612 in this make and model · 190 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.13 inHg
- Observed at
- SBY, 9 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 30, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.0 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.