SEA98LA110

Factual narrative

On June 25, 1998, approximately 1230 mountain daylight time, an Aeronca 7AC, N82834, nosed down into the runway surface during the landing roll at Thompson Falls Airport, Thompson Falls, Montana. The commercial pilot and the flight instructor, were not injured, but the aircraft, which was owned and operated by the commercial pilot, sustained substantial damage. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight, which had been airborne for about two hours and ten minutes, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation. According to the pilot/owner of the aircraft, she was practicing a short field landing when the instructor told her to apply harder braking. When she did not apply as much braking as the instructor felt was appropriate, he elected to apply additional braking. As soon as the additional braking was applied, the aircraft started to roll forward onto its nose. According to the instructor, he released the additional braking as soon as the aircraft started to nose over, but it was too late to keep the aircraft from hitting its nose on the runway and lifting the main gear off the runway surface. The aircraft then fell back onto its gear, ripping one main gear leg attach fitting from the fuselage and damaging the rudder and a wingtip bow. The pilot of the Aeronca 7AC was applying braking during a practice short-field landing. The instructor pilot in the back seat told her to apply more braking, but she did not apply as much as the instructor thought was appropriate. The instructor therefore elected to apply additional braking, whereupon the aircraft started to nose over. As soon as the nose-over started, the instructor pilot released the brake pressure he had applied, but it was too late to keep the aircraft's nose from hitting the runway and the main gear from lifting off the runway surface. After hitting the runway, the aircraft fell back onto its main landing gear with sufficient force to tear one main gear attach fitting from the fuselage. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12