Cessna 150F N7818F

Summary

On 31 May 2011 at about 13:45 local time, a Cessna 150F registered N7818F was involved in an accident near Sully, Iowa, United States. 2 people were 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

31 May 2011 at 13:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Sully, Iowa, United States

Nearest airport

Sully Municipal Airport (8C2)

Coordinates

41.5742, -92.8467

Aircraft

Cessna 150F

Registration

N7818F

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sully → Pella

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN11LA366

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to attain an adequate climb rate during the initial takeoff, resulting in the airplane settling back down and departing the runway. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and preparation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot and his passenger were taking off on a 2,130-foot turf runway. During the takeoff, the airplane lifted off, remained in ground effect, veered to the left, and then settled back onto the runway where it subsequently impacted a sign and a tree. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that two of the No. 4 cylinder's three piston compression rings had fractured but remained intact. Since two rings were intact and the third ring was not fractured, compression in the cylinder should not have been substantially reduced. Postaccident computations of ground roll distance showed that the acceleration achieved during the accident takeoff roll was almost equal to that of the airplane's expected performance on hard-surface runways, indicating that there was not a substantial decrease in available propulsive thrust at the time of takeoff. Federal Aviation Administration guidance recommends that pilots ensure that runway length is equal to the aircraft manufacturer's published takeoff or landing distance plus an 80 percent safety margin for takeoffs on a hard surface and double the manual distance for takeoffs on sod.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.