Classic WACO YMF N62XX

Summary

On 15 October 2013 at about 16:55 local time, a Classic WACO YMF registered N62XX, operated by Singh Meera, was involved in an accident near Somerville, New Jersey, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 October 2013 at 16:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Somerville, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Somerset Airport (SMQ)

Coordinates

40.6261, -74.6703

Aircraft

Classic WACO YMF

Registration

N62XX

Category

Airplane

Year built

1989

Engines

1

Operator

Singh Meera

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Somerville → Somerville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA14CA012

Nobody was injured.

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

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full 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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.