Piper PA-28-235 N8942W

Summary

On 23 July 2008 at about 22:10 local time, a Piper PA-28-235 registered N8942W was involved in an accident near Lowell, Michigan, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 July 2008 at 22:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Lowell, Michigan, United States

Coordinates

42.9536, -85.3433

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-235

Registration

N8942W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lowell → Clintonville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI08CA206

1 person had minor injuries.

The inadequate preflight planning/preparation and the short field takeoff procedure not followed by the pilot. An additional cause was the delayed aborted takeoff by the pilot. A contributing factor was the trees.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had performed 56 flights in the accident airplane from the airport in "similar" atmospheric conditions at airplane weights that equaled or exceeded the accident flight takeoff. The pilot stated that the "numerous" trees surrounding the airport and the departure end of each runway are "extremely dangerous" and provide "few, if any, options" for an uneventful aborted takeoff. During the accident takeoff on runway 30 (2,394 feet by 48 feet, dry asphalt), the airplane performed within the pilot’s expectations, but after rotation, the airplane was not climbing "normally" nor was it accelerating to best angle climb speed at the rate he previously experienced. The pilot then aborted the takeoff while the airplane was within a "few" feet above the runway because he did not want to risk hitting the trees at the departure end of the runway. The pilot was uninjured and the passenger received minor injuries. The airplane overran the runway with the application of "full" braking and impacted the trees. A post crash fire then ensued consuming the airplane. The pilot stated that he can only "speculate" that something changed after takeoff rotation that affected airplane performance. The airplane flight manual states that the takeoff distance over a 50-foot obstacle is about halfway down the runway and the calculated landing ground roll is within the remaining runway distance. The pilot stated that he used 10 degrees of flaps for the takeoff rather than 25 degrees of flaps cited in the airplane flight manual for a short field takeoff. There is no takeoff performance data based upon a 10-degree flap setting cited in the airplane flight manual.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.