Primary finding
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to account for the reduced braking effectiveness on the wet/grass airstrip, which resulted in an overrun and encounter with a ditch. Factors relating to the accident were: failure of the pilot to obtain weather information before departure, the short/wet landing strip, and the ditch that was encountered.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The pilot took off without checking the weather and flew to Panama City Beach with a banner. After arriving at the beach, which was about 10 miles away, the pilot received a report over the radio that there were thunderstorms in the area. He decided to return to the departure airstrip. After waiting for showers to pass over the strip, the pilot dropped his banner, and lined up for landing. He said the landing approach seemed normal until he attempted to brake after touchdown. The brakes were ineffective, and the pilot was unable to stop on the 1000 foot, wet, grass strip. The airplane went off the departure end of the strip and into a ditch.
Source record
Factual narrative
On June 22, 1997, at 1500 central daylight time, a Cessna 175, N6844E, collided with a ditch while on landing roll-out at Buchanan Stolport Airstrip, Panama City Beach, Florida. The banner towing airplane was operated by Aerial Ads, Inc. under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane was substantially damaged. The commercial pilot was not injured. There was no flight plan for this local flight which departed at 1435. The pilot decided to take-off from the grass strip, without checking the weather, after hearing from other pilots that the weather was "good enough to fly". The pilot picked up a banner, and flew to Panama City Beach, about 10 miles to the east of the departure airstrip. There were reports over the radio that there were thunderstorms in the area, so all the banner towing airplanes, including N6844E, decided to return to their departure fields. Buchanan Stolport was a grass strip approximately 1000 feet long. It was wet because light showers had passed through the area since the pilot's departure. After waiting for the shower to pass, the pilot overflew the field and dropped his banner. When he circled and attempted to make a normal landing on the wet grass, he was unable to slow the airplane down and went off the end of the runway into a ditch. The nose wheel collapsed, and the firewall was damaged. There was also structural damage to the right horizontal stabilizer. -