N6700A

On January 12, 1999, at 1300 Central Standard Time, a Cessna 172, N6700A, nosed over during the landing roll on a private grass strip in Centre, Alabama. The aircraft was owned and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane had departed Gadsden, Alabama, at 1230.

According to the pilot, there were power lines on the north end of the 2,000 foot runway so he elected to make a downwind landing to the north to miss the lines. According to the FAA the airplane touched down about 500 feet down the runway. During the landing roll, the pilot found that the winds were stronger than expected and the airplane would not stop on the wet grass. The airplane slid off the end of the runway, crossing a ditch and highway 411, nosing over in a ditch on the other-side of the highway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to included the propeller, wing strut, wing spars, vertical stabilizer, and a collapsed nose gear.