- Date
- July 31, 2025, 14:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Tampa, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1244GWaco UBF
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 20, 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
- 20250731011839A
- Case key
- 200877
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 roll, which resulted in a runway excursion and collision with an object.
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 of the vintage, bi-wing, tailwheel airplane reported that he was performing a wheel landing. The airplane touched down on the main wheels and had slowed enough for the tailwheel to touch down. During the landing rollout, after slowing to about 5 knots, a gust of wind struck the airplane and it veered right off of the runway and into the grass. The lower left wing struck the housing of a precision approach path indicator light, substantially damaging it, and the airplane came to rest upright. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1244G
- Reported as
- Waco UBF
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3607
- Built
- 1932
- Airframe hours
- 2,187
- Engine
- Cont Motor W-670-N, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 2025 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- VNC · Venice, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- TPF · Peter O Knight, runway 22, 3,583 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 30, 2025
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 6,066 total · 187 in this make and model · 5,979 as pilot in command · 58 in the last 90 days · 36 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- TPA, 6 nm away
- METAR
- SPECI KTPA 311801Z 18013KT 10SM TS SCT035CB 31/23 A3010 RMK AO2 TSB1755 OCNL LTGIC SE AND DSNT NE TS SE MOV SE CB DSNT NE T03060233=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 20, 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.