SEA97LA019

While attempting a 'full-stall' landing in a left crosswind, the pilot applied hard right brake, when the nose of the aircraft began to swing into the wind. His breaking was hard enough to cause the right wheel to lock up, and the aircraft immediately started to swing in the opposite direction. Without reducing the right brake action, he also then applied the left brake with sufficient force to result in the aircraft nosing over.

On October 25, 1996, approximately 0930 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 170, N2419D, nosed over while landing on a grass airstrip near Utica, Montana. Neither the private pilot nor his passenger were injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The personal pleasure flight, which departed Stanford, Montana about 10 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.

According to the pilot, he attempted a full-stall landing with a 12 knot left crosswind blowing about 30 to 40 degrees from the runway heading. His left main gear touched down first, and when his right main gear touched down, the tail of the aircraft began to swing to the right. Instead of applying right rudder and/or adding power, the pilot applied "...hard right brake..." The pilot said that the brake was applied hard enough that it resulted in the right wheel locking up, whereupon the tail then began to swing to the left. Without releasing the right brake, the pilot then also applied the left brake, which according to him "...made the aircraft nose over." According to the pilot, the right brake remained locked up even after he exited the aircraft. On the NTSB 6120.1/2, the pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented "...by not applying brake so hard."