- Date
- August 7, 2020, 14:10 local (18:10 UTC)
- Place
- Modena, NY
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N811RDDakota S18-160
- 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200807013899A
- Case key
- 101757
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 the rear brakes during landing, which resulted in a nose-over.
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
According to the pilot, he was landing after a local flight with a passenger seated in the rear seat of the tail-wheel equipped airplane. During touchdown the airplane started to nose over, and the pilot realized that the passenger had his feet on the brakes. He yelled at the passenger to get his feet off the brakes, but it was too late to prevent the airplane from nosing over. The airplane flipped over inverted and came to a complete stop. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the vertical stabilizer was buckled. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, he was landing after a local flight with a passenger seated in the rear seat of the tail-wheel equipped airplane. During touchdown the airplane started to nose over, and the pilot realized that the passenger had his feet on the brakes. He yelled at the passenger to get his feet off the brakes, but it was too late to prevent the airplane from nosing over. The airplane flipped over inverted and came to a complete stop. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the vertical stabilizer was buckled. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N811RD
- Reported as
- Dakota S18-160
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 2018-001
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 110
- Engine
- Lycoming YO 360 EXP-91, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 1, 2020
- Departed
- 2NK9 · Modena, NY
- Destination
- 2NK9 · Modena, NY
- Airport
- 2NK9 · Old Orchard Airpark, runway 36, 2,800 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B
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
- 82
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 16, 2019
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 16,000 total · 32 in this make and model · 14,000 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- POU, 9 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.3 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.