- Date
- June 25, 2026, 13:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Highgate, VT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4346CChampion 7EC
- Defining event
- Landing: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 27, 2026
- 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
- 20260625007919A
- Case key
- 203317
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 excessive braking during the landing roll, 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 reported that upon touching down on the turf runway, the tailwheel-equipped airplane began a “moderate excursion to the right” and that he applied left rudder and brakes to correct. The airplane then veered left and nosed over resulting in substantial damage to the left wing and the lift struts of both wings. The pilot stated that the turf along the airplane’s landing roll path was “torn up,” and was likely the result of excessive braking. The pilot also reported that while he had extensive experience flying tailwheel equipped airplanes they had all been fitted with modern hydraulically actuated braking systems, while the accident airplane was equipped with the original mechanical/drum brakes. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4346C
- Reported as
- Champion 7EC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7EC-365
- Built
- 1955
- Airframe hours
- 2,045
- Engine
- Continental Motors C-90-12-F, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 6, 2025 · 2 hours before
- Airport
- FSO · Franklin County State, runway 18, 4,001 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- None
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
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 14, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,461 total · 122 in this make and model · 3,200 as pilot in command · 37 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- FSO
- METAR
- METAR KFSO 251815Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 25/13 A3003 RMK AO2 T02470133
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 27, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.4 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.