- Date
- April 24, 1997, 12:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Huntersville, NC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N133RBoeing B75N1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 29, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970424006509A
- Case key
- 38271
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 a visual lookout on landing rollout, resulting in an on-ground collision with a known obstacle (ditch) and subsequent nose over.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot stated he had been flying out of the private airfield for about 15 years. He was making a full stop landing and forgot about a ditch that crossed the runway. During rollout, the airplane encountered the ditch and nosed over.
Factual narrative
On April 24, 1997, at about 1230 eastern daylight time, a Boeing Stearman, B75N1, N133R, registered to a private owner crashed on landing rollout at a private airstrip in the vicinity of Huntersville, North Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The commercial pilot and one passenger reported no injuries. The flight originated from Bradford Field, Huntersville, North Carolina, about 10 minutes before the accident.
The pilot stated he had been flying out of the airfield about 15 years. There is a ditch/low spot that runs across runway 24 about 500 feet from the end of the runway. He normally lands long to clear the known obstruction, however, he did not think about it while making this approach. He made a wheel landing and continued with the landing rollout. The tailwheel hit the ditch/low spot and pitched the nose downward. The airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N133R
- Reported as
- Boeing B75N1
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 75-6-81
- Airframe hours
- 66
- Engine
- Continental W-670-6A, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Larry E. Morris
- Registered owner
- Robert Frear
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 3, 1996 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- NC05
- Airport
- NC05 · Bradford Field, runway 24, 3,800 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 53
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Rear
- Flight hours
- 4,335 total · 350 in this make and model · 4,377 as pilot in command · 270 in the last 90 days · 87 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CLT, 190 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.