Primary finding
Probable cause
in-flight collision with a fence during takeoff. Factors in this accident were the pilot's inadequate pre-flight by not calculating the total weight of the airplane, and high temperatures.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The flight was departing from a 1,500 foot grass runway, and did not accelerate. The pilot managed to get airborne, but struck a 6- to 7 foot high fence at the departure end of the runway, with the landing gear, and impacted in a field about 75 feet from the fence. The pilot stated that the 'RPM and manifold pressure was normal...the aircraft felt like it did not accelerate as fast as normal...the aircraft may have been heavy for the runway length and density altitude.'
Source record
Factual narrative
On July 13, 1997, about 1800 central daylight time, a Grumman-Schweizer G-164A, N7981, registered to Kiser Aviation, crashed during takeoff at Woodberry, Tennessee. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the Title 14 CFR Part 137, local aerial application flight. The airline transport-rated pilot was not injured. The airplane was destroyed. The fight was originating at the time of the accident. The pilot said he was departing from a 1,500-foot grass runway, and that the airplane "did not accelerate as fast as it should." He managed to get airborne, but struck a 6- to 7-foot-high fence at the departure end of the runway, with the landing gear, and impacted in a field about 75 feet from the fence. According to the FAA inspector's report, the pilot stated that the "RPM and manifold pressure was normal...the aircraft felt like it did not accelerate as fast as normal...the aircraft may have been heavy for the runway length and density altitude." -