Cessna 152 N48WT

Summary

On 29 November 1999 at about 21:05 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N48WT, operated by The Global Group Inc., was involved in an accident near Surprise, Arizona, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

29 November 1999 at 21:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Surprise, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

33.6393, -112.3801

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N48WT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

The Global Group Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Glendale

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX00LA044

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to attain and maintain an adequate airspeed during takeoff from a short and unimproved dirt road, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/mush condition and impact with the ground.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot is chief pilot for a flight school, and reported that a renter pilot had made an emergency landing in a cow pasture in the accident airplane after running out of fuel. The airplane sat in the field unattended over the weekend. The pilot and one of the school's mechanics assessed the damage; none was found. The pilot planned to transport the airplane back to the airport. He put in fuel and performed a preflight and control check with no noted discrepancies. The pilot and the mechanic then moved the airplane to a rough dirt road; the pilot measured the available takeoff distance about 1,500 feet. He reported that the takeoff and initial climb out seemed normal, but the airplane then started turning left. The pilot applied right rudder and aileron but was not able to stop the turn. His airspeed was in the 50-knot range, but about 35 to 40 feet agl, the airplane began to settle while still in an 18- to 20-degree left bank. The stall warning indicator did not activate at any time. The left wing tip impacted the ground, followed by the nose of the airplane. The airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot stated that the winds alternated from calm to light and variable at 1 to 2 knots at the time of the accident. A postcrash examination revealed that the flaps, ailerons, and rudders operated normally. No mechanical discrepancies were found with any airframe or engine system.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.