- Date
- February 5, 2025, 13:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Weirsdale, FL · On Runway at 97FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N811WJNear William J RV-7A
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 6, 2025
- 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
- 20250205000959A
- Case key
- 199651
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 improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing and subsequent 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
The pilot was landing the experimental amateur-built airplane on a turf runway, and had traveled about 1/3 the length of the runway when the airplane “lost energy” about 5 feet above ground level. The airplane then bounced as it crested a small hill before it landed “hard” on the nose landing gear. The nose landing gear subsequently dug into the soft, sandy soil and the airplane nosed over. The pilot was seriously injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the engine mounts, empennage, and fuselage during the accident sequence. Postaccident examination of the airplane’s flight controls revealed no evidence of any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N811WJ
- Reported as
- Near William J RV-7A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 70685
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 389
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · December 21, 2023
- Departed
- X23 · Umatilla, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 97FL · Love Field Airport, runway 18/36, 3,700 × 125 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Handheld GPS, Electronic primary flight display, 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
- 69
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 10, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 620 total · 423 in this make and model · 507 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.18 inHg
- Observed at
- KLEE, 9 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KLEE 051753Z 15005KT 10SM CLR 26/18 A3018 RMK AO2 SLP217 T02560178 10256 20139 58019
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 6, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 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.