- Date
- July 26, 2018, 11:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Healdsburg, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1902VCessna 140
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 5, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20180726018079A
- Case key
- 97954
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 brake application during the landing roll, which resulted in a nose-over.
Findings · 3
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
According to the pilot in the tailwheel-equipped airplane, he had performed two previous touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. During the third landing roll, the tailwheel settled on the runway, and then the airplane nosed over. He reported that he was “not certain whether I accidentally stepped on the brakes or the brakes seized." The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector’s postaccident examination of the brake system revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot in the tailwheel-equipped airplane, he had performed two previous touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. During the third landing roll, the tailwheel settled on the runway and then the airplane nosed over. He reported that, "I am not certain whether I accidentally stepped on the brakes or the brakes seized." The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. A post-accident airplane examination performed by a Federal Aviation Administration Inspector revealed that no issues with the brake system was found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1902V
- Reported as
- Cessna 140 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 14093
- Built
- 1947
- Airframe hours
- 4,333.5
- Engine
- Continental C85, 104 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- HES · Healdsburg, CA
- Destination
- HES · Healdsburg, CA
- Airport
- HES · Healdsburg Muni, runway 13, 2,652 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Auto-pilot, Handheld GPS, 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
- 70
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 10, 2017
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 4,800 total · 4 in this make and model · 4,800 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 9 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- KSTS, 10 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 22, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.