Cessna 140 N2256N accident near Vacaville, California

Probable cause

The pilot's use of excessive brakes during landing, which resulted in a nose over. Contributing to the accident was a partial loss of engine power during takeoff initial climb, likely due to carburetor ice.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was taking off for a personal local flight and about 150 feet in the air, the engine lost partial power. The pilot decided to land the airplane on the remaining runway. As the airplane approached the end of the runway, the pilot said he applied the brakes too hard, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, vertical stabilizer, and rudder.

The pilot said he had replaced two engine cylinders, and during the previous days he had run the engine on the ground in accordance with the cylinder break-in procedure. The accident flight was the first flight after the engine repair. Prior to the flight, he had done an extended ground run without the use of carburetor heat. He said during the initial climb the engine lost power, acting like it might have had water in the fuel, but during the preflight inspection, he had sumped the tanks, and found no water.

According to a carburetor icing chart, the weather conditions at the time of the accident bordered between serious icing at glide power and serious icing at cruise power.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR14CA197 for the full record.