- Date
- October 4, 2025, 09:20 local (16:20 UTC)
- Place
- Boulder City, NV
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N90331Willey Frank C Jr. Avid Mark 4
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 201793
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 directional control while landing.
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 of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that while landing, he encountered a gust of wind and the airplane weathervaned violently. He attempted to correct the movement with the use of brake, but the airplane veered off the runway about 150 feet into sand and nosed over, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing strut. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N90331
- Reported as
- Willey Frank C Jr. Avid Mark 4 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1287D
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 2.5
- Engine
- Stratus/Subaru EA 81, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · September 27, 2025 · 1 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- BVU · Boulder City Municipal, runway 27, 5,103 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator
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
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- July 29, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 870 total · 2 in this make and model · 712 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.88 inHg
- Observed at
- BVU
- METAR
- METAR KBVU 041515Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/03 A2988 RMK AO2
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 4, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.8 MB in all.