Grumman G164 N997QC

Summary

On 16 August 2020 at about 14:00 local time, a Grumman G164 registered N997QC was involved in an accident near Rice, Minnesota, United States. One person was 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

16 August 2020 at 14:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Rice, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Private (PVT)

Coordinates

45.7853, -94.2008

Aircraft

Grumman G164

Registration

N997QC

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Rice → Rice

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20CA341

Nobody was injured.

The pilot did not maintain control of the airplane during the landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was en route to spray a field when he received a call over the company radio to return to the airport. He returned for landing with the full application load. The airstrip consisted of gravel and asphalt; grass areas bordered the runway. The main wheels touched down near the runway threshold; the initial portion of the runway was gravel. The tail wheel settled onto the runway as the airspeed dissipated, and the pilot brought the propeller into reverse. However, the tailwheel encountered a “bump” which started some pitch oscillations; this might have occurred at the transition from gravel to asphalt. The pilot reported no elevator or rudder authority, possibly due to the reduced airflow over the empennage resulting from the reverse thrust. He noted that a go-around was not an option at that point. The airplane yawed to the right and departed the paved area, proceeded into the grass area, and finally into the soft ground adjacent to the runway causing the airplane to nose over. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.