ERA15LA314 · Grumman G164 A
Eastern Flying Service Grumman G164 A · Accident: nose over/nose down during landing
From Trenton, NC (private airstrip) to Trenton, NC (private airstrip)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA15LA314
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Grumman G164 A
- Aircraft type
- Grumman G164
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N5277
- Operator
- Eastern Flying Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Trenton, NC (private airstrip)To Trenton, NC (private airstrip)
- Aircraft age
- About 47 years (built 1968)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 137: Agricultural
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Landing · landing roll
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Nose over/nose down
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The commercial pilot reported that, following an agricultural application flight in the tailwheel-equipped airplane, he chose to land toward the northwest on a private landing area. He reported that he made this decision based on power lines on the approach end and that landing in that direction precluded the option of a balked landing; however, photographs taken at the accident scene revealed that no power line crossed the extended runway centerline. The pilot made a three-point landing and applied the brakes; however, he noted no braking action. The pilot then released and reapplied the brakes, and the airplane subsequently nosed over and came to rest inverted. A witness reported that, as the airplane was landing, he saw smoke coming from the tires. Postaccident examination of the brakes revealed no mechanical malfunctions or abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.
A review of recorded wind information from nearby airports indicated that the airplane likely landed with up to a 9-knot tailwind. Although numerous tire skid marks were noted on the paved landing area, it could not be determined which, if any, of those marks were caused by the accident airplane. However, given the witness statement indicating that he saw smoke coming from the tires after landing and the airplane's subsequent nose-over, it is likely that the pilot applied excessive braking action. Therefore, it is likely that the airplane was landing with excessive speed due to the tailwind and that the pilot subsequently applied excessive braking to slow the airplane before reaching the end of the runway, which resulted in the airplane nosing over and coming to rest inverted.
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to land the airplane with a tailwind and his subsequent application of excessive braking, which resulted in a nose-over.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA15LA314
- Event ID
- 20150816X31900
- Case number
- ERA15LA314
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 37c3e9ffe374d01e762936322f6311012f30d467b6f8badf4bba72c9ad1f8e3d; retrieved 2026-09-16T02:40:28.899Z.