What happened
The accident occurred while a student pilot was conducting an approach for landing at Reigle Airport. During the final phase of the flight, the aircraft encountered significant vertical wind shear, specifically experiencing both updrafts and downdrafts. These turbulent air conditions compromised the pilot's ability to maintain stable flight parameters.
As the aircraft touched down and began its rollout on the runway surface, the pilot was unable to maintain directional control. The aircraft departed the left side of the paved runway surface and entered an adjacent grass field. While traversing the grass, the nose wheel encountered wet earth at the boundary of a dirt farm field. The resistance caused the nose gear to collapse, resulting in the aircraft nosing over.
The investigation
Examination of the accident site and circumstances indicated that the primary factor leading to the loss of control was the environmental weather conditions encountered during the landing phase. The presence of wet earth at the edge of the farm field contributed to the nose-over event once the aircraft left the runway pavement.