- Date
- November 12, 2021, 14:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Martinsville, VA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N27TQEric A Munzer Dornier D027-B2
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Runway excursion
- 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
- 20211112019459A
- Case key
- 104252
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 directional control during landing rollout, which resulted in a runway excursion and an impact with a ditch.
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
The pilot reported that during the landing rollout in his tailwheel-equipped airplane, the airplane began to drift left. He attempted to maintain control to avoid a ground loop and continued to keep the nose straight as the airplane departed the runway into the grass. During the runway excursion, the airplane encountered a ditch that was hidden from view by tall grass, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N27TQ
- Reported as
- Eric A Munzer Dornier D027-B2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 105
- Built
- 1956
- Airframe hours
- 219
- Engine
- Lycoming GO-480-B1A6, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · November 4, 2021
- Departed
- TTA · Standford, NC
- Destination
- MTV · Martinsville, NC
- Airport
- MTV · Blue Ridge, runway 31, 5,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, 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
- 35
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 4, 2021
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 5,000 total · 32.5 in this make and model · 3,086 as pilot in command · 49 in the last 90 days · 25.2 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Icing
- Unknown
- Turbulence
- Unknown
- Observed at
- MTV
- METAR
- KMTV 121955Z AUTO 24005KT 10SM CLR 19/02 A3000 RMK AO2 T01870017
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 20, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 12.2 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.