SEA01LA162

After an uneventful touchdown, the tailwheel-equipped aircraft began veering to the right during the landing roll. Although the pilot applied full left rudder, the aircraft did not respond. The pilot therefore applied partial left braking along with the full left rudder deflection. Although this caused the aircraft to begin tracking straight, the tail lifted off the ground and it began to nose over. When it started to nose over, the pilot released the brake application, but the aircraft continued over onto its back. It was later determined that the right brake was dragging/binding during the landing roll, and the amount of left brake necessary to keep the aircraft tracking straight resulted in the aircraft nosing over.

On August 29, 2001, approximately 1140 Pacific daylight time, a Boeing Stearman A75N1, N53411, nosed over while landing on the grass alongside the asphalt runway at Sanderson Field, Shelton, Washington. The pilot and his passenger were not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal pleasure flight, which departed the same location about 40 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed. There was no report of an ELT activation.

According to the pilot, who was landing the tailwheel-equipped aircraft in calm wind conditions, the initial touchdown was uneventful, as was the beginning of the landing roll. However, during the rollout, the aircraft began to "...veer to the right." The pilot attempted to correct the situation by applying left rudder, but the aircraft did not respond to the full-left rudder input. He therefore added left brake application to the left rudder input that he was already applying. Although he was able to keep the aircraft from veering any further to the right by application of both left rudder and left brake, this resulted in the aircraft's tail lifting off the runway, and it began to nose over. The pilot therefore released his brake application, but the aircraft continued over onto its back. According to the pilot, after the accident, he checked the brakes, and the right side was considerably warmer than the left. The pilot also said that when he tried to tow the aircraft back to its hangar after the accident, he had trouble moving it until he backed off the adjustment of the right brake.

The FAA Airworthiness Inspector who looked at the aircraft was unable to determine if there were any anomalies in the braking system, and because the brake adjustment had been backed off on the right side, he was unable to determine if the brakes had been out of adjustment.