NTSB Factual Report

On April 19, 2003, about 1800 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Aviat A1 airplane, N36LE, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over while landing at the Goose Bay airstrip, about 13 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska. The certificated flight instructor and the student pilot reported minor injuries. The Title 14, CFR Part 91, local instructional flight departed Merrill Field, Anchorage, about 1700, and operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The operator of the airplane was the student pilot/owner, who was receiving primary flight instruction.

During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) on April 21, the flight instructor related that while landing on the gravel surface of runway 25 at Goose Bay, he inadvertently applied the wheel brakes too hard and for too long. He said his excessive application of the brakes resulted in the airplane nosing over, and receiving substantial damage to the empennage and wings. The flight instructor said there were no preaccident mechanical difficulties with the airplane.

The student pilot telephoned the IIC on April 22, and related essentially the same information as the flight instructor. The student pilot said the flight instructor was the sole manipulator of the flight controls, and that the instructor was demonstrating a short field landing. He said that as soon as the airplane touched down, and before the tailwheel touched the runway, the instructor applied the brakes hard and the airplane nosed over very quickly.

NTSB Probable Cause

The flight instructor's excessive application of the brakes during the landing roll, which resulted in the airplane nosing over.