Beaver County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania 15010
Sunday, April 12, 1998 18:50 EDT

A witness reported that the airplane departed the airport towards the west, with a tailwind. The airplane 'fishtailed' down the runway, and once airborne, the airplane's wings rocked back and forth several times before it went into a nose-high attitude. The left wing dropped, the airplane made a descending turn to the south, impacted an embankment and caught fire. The engine was heard running throughout the takeoff sequence. The pilot purchased the airplane two days prior to the accident, and had the previous owner fly with him, after the purchase, to familiarize him with the airplane. The accident airplane was the first tailwheel airplane without a stick that the pilot had flown. The pilot also reported to the previous owner that most of his flight experience had been in an Ercoupe that did not have rudders and flaps. The pilot had flown 9 times in the past 11 years, and had accumulated 3.1 hours of flight experience in the accident airplane. No pre-impact malfunction with the airplane or the engine was found.

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control, and his failure to attain adequate airspeed, which resulted in a stall. Contributing was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the airplane, and his misjudgment of wind information which resulted in a tailwind during takeoff.