Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Santa Maria Pub/Capt G Allan H Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Maria, California 93455
Friday, September 5, 2014 13:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The owner/builder of the experimental amateur-built, tailwheel-equipped biplane was seated in the front left seat, with another pilot seated in the right seat, and a passenger in the rear seat. The intent of the flight was to prepare both pilots for a flight review, with both trading off flight duties as necessary. They planned to initially perform touch-and-go landings at their home base airport, with the pilot in the right seat acting as pilot-in-command. The first takeoff and landing was uneventful, but the airport was busy, so they diverted to the accident airport to practice further. The landing approach was normal, with the airplane touching down slightly to the right of centerline and then bouncing. The pilot made corrective control inputs, but the airplane did not fully respond, bouncing again on the runway. He applied forward elevator pressure and the airplane landed a third time, this time remaining on the ground. The airplane began to drift to the right, but would not respond to the pilot's rudder inputs. The owner/builder then applied left rudder, but the airplane continued to drift towards a runway sign. As they passed to the right of the sign the airplane pitched down violently, and nosed over.
The airplane sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence to the left upper wing and the vertical stabilizer. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no mechanical malfunctions or failures which would have precluded normal operation. The owner stated that this was the first flight since he had completed the airplane's conditional inspection, and no flight control malfunctions were discovered at that time. He subsequently stated that he did not find any mechanical malfunctions or failures during a post-accident examination. He further surmised that the design of the braking system was such that simultaneous application of the left and right side brake pedals by both pilots may have resulted in excessive brake pressure, and this may have been the reason the airplane nosed over so unexpectedly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate landing flare and subsequent loss of directional control during the landing roll.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/5/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Santa Maria |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93455 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 345360N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1202729W |
| Event Location Airport | SANTA MARIA PUB/CAPT G ALLAN H |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SMX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 261 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1951 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 96 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSMX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 238 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KSMX 051951Z 31005KT 7SM CLR 23/14 A2990 RMK |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 3 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 33456 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NWM ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2014 7:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sime1 |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N15TE |
| NTSB Number | WPR14CA365 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EALAND CHARLES |
| Aircraft Model | LIONHEART |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | NO SERIES |
| Aircraft Serial Number | GA-LH-008 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 9 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 237 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | EALAND CHARLES D |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | LOS OSOS |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 934024315 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | EALAND CHARLES D |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | LOS OSOS |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 934024315 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SBP |
| Departure City | SAN LUIS OBISPO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1230 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SMX |
| Destination City | SANTA MARIA |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2014 7:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sime1 |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 8004 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |