Pilot of a great lakes biplane reported loss of directional control and a prop strike occurred when ...

Narrative:

A great lakes model 2T-1A-2 had a nose-over/propeller strike during landing rollout while performing the first landing of the flight. It appeared the PIC inadvertently pressed the right heel-brake while pressing the right rudder. The aircraft yawed right; the right tire locked and an immediate nose-over and prop strike occurred. There were two souls on board. No injuries occurred. Damage appeared to be confined to the propeller; engine and wheel fairings. There was approximately 10 knots of right crosswind (210 16g21). The PIC executed a stable approach and the aircraft touched down within the first 1;000 ft in a forward slip (wing-down; top rudder); on centerline; on speed. During rollout; at approximately 20 mph ground speed; the PIC noticed a left drift trend and right rudder was applied with the heel positioned over/near the right brake causing unintentional brake application. The brake was not released in time to prevent the propeller striking the runway.the incorporation of heel brakes requires unconventional placement of heels relative to the rudder pedals. Once the heels are placed on/over the heel brakes; rudder inputs cannot effectively be made without rotating the heels away from the brakes. The PIC's limited experience with heel brakes was a contributing factor.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot of a Great Lakes biplane reported loss of directional control and a prop strike occurred when the right heel brake was inadvertently applied on the landing roll.

Narrative: A Great Lakes model 2T-1A-2 had a nose-over/propeller strike during landing rollout while performing the first landing of the flight. It appeared the PIC inadvertently pressed the right heel-brake while pressing the right rudder. The aircraft yawed right; the right tire locked and an immediate nose-over and prop strike occurred. There were two souls on board. No injuries occurred. Damage appeared to be confined to the propeller; engine and wheel fairings. There was approximately 10 knots of right crosswind (210 16G21). The PIC executed a stable approach and the aircraft touched down within the first 1;000 ft in a forward slip (wing-down; top rudder); on centerline; on speed. During rollout; at approximately 20 mph ground speed; the PIC noticed a left drift trend and right rudder was applied with the heel positioned over/near the right brake causing unintentional brake application. The brake was not released in time to prevent the propeller striking the runway.The incorporation of heel brakes requires unconventional placement of heels relative to the rudder pedals. Once the heels are placed on/over the heel brakes; rudder inputs cannot effectively be made without rotating the heels away from the brakes. The PIC's limited experience with heel brakes was a contributing factor.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1415026
Time
Date	201612
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Aerobatic
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Normal Brake System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 23 Flight Crew Total 5011 Flight Crew Type 4
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft

Pilot of a great lakes biplane reported loss of directional control and a prop strike occurred when the right heel brake was inadvertently applied on the landing roll.