Incident Details
A tailwheel airplane nosed over during landing at an airport with runway 35 in use. The pilot, a commercial pilot with 2,750 hours of flight experience, reported that he performed a normal wheel landing on the runway. After the airspeed decayed and rudder effectiveness was lost, he applied the brakes before allowing the tailwheel to touch down. The resulting deceleration caused the airplane to nose over and come to rest in an inverted position.
Pilot Account
The pilot stated that the landing was normal until he braked prematurely. He noted that he got on the brakes prior to letting the tail wheel down, which led to the nose-over. The airport manager reported that the pilot had contacted the airport's Unicom station while approaching. The manager informed the pilot that the winds were from 070 degrees at 10 knots, though they had been variable from the northeast and southeast earlier in the afternoon. The pilot chose to land straight in to runway 35, despite runway 12 being available.
Wind Conditions
According to the airport manager, winds at the time of the landing were reported as 070 degrees at 10 knots. The manager noted that winds had been variable throughout the afternoon, shifting between northeast and southeast directions.