PRINCETON, WI, USA
N4188Q
PIPER PA-28-140
THE PILOT REPORTED HE HAD TWO PASSENGERS ABOARD THE AIRPLANE AND WAS ATTEMPTING TO TAKEOFF FROM A 2,500' SOFT TURF RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE APPROXIMATELY 800' FROM THE END OF THE RUNWAY, BUT WAS UNABLE TO CLIMB MORE THAN 40' ABOVE THE GROUND. THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED TO FLY OFF THE AIRPORT AT A VERY LOW ALTITUDE, STRUCK A TREE WITH THE LEFT WING AND CRASHED INTO A SWAMP. THE PILOT WROTE IN HIS REPORT TO THE NTSB THAT THE ACCIDENT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY: 'MORE POWER-LESS WEIGHT.'
On September 8, 1994, about 1700 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-140 airplane, N4188Q, sustained substantial damage during an attempted takeoff from the Bed-Ah-Wick Airport, Princeton, Wisconsin. The private pilot and one passenger received minor injury, the remaining passenger reported no injury. The local pleasure flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The pilot wrote in his report to the NTSB that he lifted off about 800' feet from the end of runway 36 (2,500', turf, soft), but was unable to climb higher than 40' above the ground before the stall warning came on. He said that he was unable to maintain altitude, and descended over a brushy swamp where the airplane's left wing struck a small tree and subsequently crashed. In the Recommendation section of the NTSB report (How could this accident have been prevented), the pilot wrote: "More power-less weight." No preimpact mechanical anomaly with the airplane was discovered during a postaccident inspection, and none was claimed by the pilot.
the pilot's premature liftoff.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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