- Date
- June 14, 2024, 12:45 local (16:45 UTC)
- Place
- Townsend, DE · Grass strip
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N298ZVans 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
- 20240614007239A
- Case key
- 194484
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
An inadvertent encounter with rough or soft terrain during landing, resulting in a bent nose landing gear leg and subsequent nose over.
Findings · 1
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 he was in the traffic pattern for landing at his home airport. The turf runway was 3,300 ft-long and 100 ft-wide, and the pilot described its condition as dry, but “pretty bumpy.” The approach and landing were normal, with the main landing gear touching down first, about 60 mph. After he lowered the nose landing gear to the runway, the airplane nosed over and came to rest, inverted. He was met by neighbors and first responders who assisted him out of the airplane and was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. An inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration responded to the accident site and examined the wreckage. There was substantial damage to one wing, the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer. He reported that the landing surface was bumpy; however, he could not determine an exact location where the landing gear dug in. After the wreckage was recovered, the landing gear was examined. The nose landing gear leg was found unbroken, but bent aft about 30-40°, consistent with the nose wheel digging into rough or bumpy turf. The nose wheel casted and turned freely without restriction. There were no areas of preexisting mechanical anomaly found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N298Z
- Reported as
- Vans RV6 (A)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 60164
- Built
- 1999
- Airframe hours
- 947
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · June 20, 2023 · 26 hours before
- Departed
- 33N · Dover, DE
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- DE20 · Spirit Airpark, runway 20, 3,300 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 56
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 29, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 447 total · 181 in this make and model · 447 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.86 inHg
- Observed at
- DOV, 19 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KDOV 141655Z AUTO 22007KT 10SM FEW170 SCT200 31/17 A2986 RMK AO2 SLP115 T03140173
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.2 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.