Pilot Debrief

CLASSIC AIRCRAFT CORP WACO YMF near Somerville, NJ — 2013-10-15

Final reportERA14CA012
Sign in to save
Date
2013-10-15
Location
Somerville, NJ, USA
Airport
SMQ
Aircraft
CLASSIC AIRCRAFT CORP WACO YMF
Registration
N62XX
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while applying wheel brakes during landing roll resulting in the airplane nosing over.

NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that she departed from runway 26, and flew over a local golf course, then turned to return to the departure airport where she entered the traffic pattern on the downwind leg for runway 26, flying between 75 and 80 knots. She descended to 800 feet and prior to turning base leg she slowed to between 65 and 70 knots, which she maintained on base and final. She turned onto base leg and descended to 500 feet and at that altitude turned onto final approach for runway 26 slowing at touchdown. She performed a wheel landing a few feet farther along the runway than typical or "a little long" which she described as abeam the western edge of the hangars. The airplane travelled onto a portion of the runway that causes undulations and with aft stick applied after encountering the undulations, she tapped the brakes. The airplane then nosed over. She further reported that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the airplane that caused the nose over, and the area of the runway where the undulations were located also was not the cause of the accident. Various video recordings depicted the approach and nose-over sequence; however, the actual touchdown point was not captured. An individual at the accident airport provided a reference for where the airplane came to rest, which was located before a diagonal line that is visible in a Google Earth image. Plotting on Google Earth of the pilot reported touchdown point indicates that position was located about 800 down the 2,200 foot long grass runway, which has the west 500 feet described as being unsuitable for takeoff or landing due to uneven surface. Therefore, the pilot reported touchdown point occurred nearly halfway down the usable length of runway. Although the exact location where the airplane came to rest was not documented, based on video recording, that was located about 500 feet from the pilot reported touchdown point.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Loss of control
First missed decision gate
Choosing to land on unsuitable runway surface.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Video
  • Photos
  • 8 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents8

Related mishaps