Incident Overview
During the landing flare, the airplane's left wing made contact with tall weeds. The pilot reported a slight crosswind from the left, which caused the airplane to drift slightly to the right. To correct for the crosswind, the pilot lowered the left wing. Subsequently, the left wing contacted tall weeds that were located adjacent to the landing area.
Sequence of Events
After the wing contact, the airplane exited the left side of the airstrip. It then rolled up a canal bank, turned 90 degrees to the left, and nosed over into the canal. The pilot stated that he had landed in the same area a few weeks earlier and was unaware that the grass had grown so much since then. The nose-over resulted in the airplane coming to rest inverted in the canal. The pilot did not report any pre-existing mechanical issues with the airplane. The landing area was a grass strip with tall weeds along its edges. The crosswind conditions were noted as light, but sufficient to require a wing-low correction. The pilot's previous landing at this location had not encountered such vegetation growth.