Primary finding
Probable cause
The flight instructor’s failure to maintain adequate clearance from overgrown brush during taxi, which resulted in entanglement with the brush and a subsequent impact with a tree.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The flight instructor reported that, after demonstrating a simulated emergency landing, he taxied the airplane off the runway and prepared to back taxi for departure. While taxiing, the instructor and student monitored the right-wing tip clearance to the overgrown brush on the right side of the runway, but the right wing became entangled, and the airplane veered right. The instructor added left rudder and brake, but the airplane impacted a ditch. Postaccident examination revealed that the right wing struck a tree and sustained substantial damage. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Source record
Factual narrative
The flight instructor reported that, after demonstrating a simulated emergency landing, he taxied the airplane off the runway and prepared to back taxi for departure. While taxiing, the instructor and student monitored the right-wing tip clearance to the overgrown brush on the right side of the runway, but the right-wing became entangled and the airplane veered to the right. The instructor added left rudder and brake, but the airplane impacted a ditch. Postaccident examination revealed that the right wing struck a tree and sustained substantial damage. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The instructor added in a postaccident interview that the airport did not have pavement markings, so he used a pavement crack down the middle of the taxiway as a reference. He added that the entangled brush near the location the wing struck a tree appeared to be more overgrown than other areas along the taxiway.