- Date
- July 25, 2021, 13:16 local (17:16 UTC)
- Place
- Ocracoke, NC
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N464DMVans RV6
- 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
- 20210725011839A
- Case key
- 103548
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 perform a go-around during the unstabilized approach, which resulted in the airplane landing too far down the runway, and a subsequent runway excursion.
Findings · 4
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 windspeed at the nearest weather reporting facility was 14-16 knots, and the windsock at the accident airport indicated a 90° crosswind. He stated that his approach was “too high and fast”, and he crossed the runway threshold about 70 ft above ground level (AGL) at a speed of 90 mph. About ½ way down the runway, the airplane was about 30 ft AGL at a speed of about 45 mph, and “oscillating 20° either side of center.” The pilot believed he could “straighten the flight path and touch down in time to stop” before the end of the runway. However, a gust of wind “would not allow the aircraft to slow” and it ran off the end of the runway about 20 mph, nosed over, and sustained substantial damage to the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, the rudder, and the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N464DM
- Reported as
- Vans RV6 (A)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 60329
- Built
- 2002
- Airframe hours
- 1,161
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 13, 2021 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- MCZ · Williamston, NC
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- W95 · Ocracoke Island, runway 06, 2,998 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Handheld GPS, 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
- 78
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 24, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 879 total · 353 in this make and model · 8 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.07 inHg
- Observed at
- HSE, 18 nm away
- METAR
- KHSE 251651Z AUTO 18009KT 10SM CLR 30/21 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP181 T03000211
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 29, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 11.4 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.