- Date
- April 30, 2025, 10:29 UTC
- Place
- Brasstown, NC · Private Grass Strip - Payne's Landing
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N788MPChris Wallen/Michael Pliske Just Acft Highlander
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- 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
- 20250430004569A
- Case key
- 200116
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 inadvertent application of brake pressure 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
The pilot said his feet were inadvertently too high on the rudder pedals on landing which resulted in his inadvertent application of brake pressure. As such, when the airplane touched down, it nosed over resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, empennage and fuselage. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N788MP
- Reported as
- Chris Wallen/Michael Pliske Just Acft Highlander
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- JA612-01-21
- Built
- 2022
- Airframe hours
- 28
- Engine
- Rotax 916iS3A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · March 1, 2025
- Airport
- None · Payne's Landing, runway 36, 2,250 × 80 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display, Data recorder, Auto-pilot
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
- 64
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Military, Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- May 9, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 19,050 total · 28.7 in this make and model · 1,077 as pilot in command · 125.3 in the last 90 days · 6.6 in the last 30 days · 3.4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.22 inHg
- Observed at
- KRHP, 10 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KRHP 301429Z AUTO 19007KT 10SM BKN023 BKN027 23/16 A3022
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 6, 2025, 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.