Placerville Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Placerville, California 95667
Monday, December 8, 2003 6:55 PST

The airplane entered a stall/mush condition during the takeoff initial climb, descended back to ground impact, veered off the runway, and collided with trees and terrain. A witness saw the airplane taxi to the runway about 0650. The nearest weather reporting station was 20 miles northwest, and at 0630, recorded a temperature of 03 C, the dew point 0 C, with clear sky conditions. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector lives 8 miles from the airport and reported that there was frost on his outdoor furniture that morning. Another pilot stopped by the airport around 0510, and noted that the top of the wings of his airplane and others had frost and ice on them. The first responder to the accident reported that large water droplets covered the tops of the wing. The wreckage was located approximately 1,450 feet down the runway and 140 feet to the south on downhill sloping terrain. Approximately 1,250 feet down the runway, a 21-foot-long ground scar resembling tire tracks was located on a grass shoulder area on the south side off the runway. The track was angled away from the runway and ran in a direction pointing towards the airplane wreckage. The tracks originated about the middle of a grass shoulder area that parallels the runway. Between and forward of two narrow parallel tracks was an elongated and much wider area of disturbed earth that approximated the dimensions of the aircraft's nose. Examination of the wreckage found no evidence of a preimpact malfunction or failure of the control system or power plant. Following recovery of the wreckage, the engine was test run successfully while still installed in the airframe. Using the airplane flight manual the takeoff ground roll under the accident ambient conditions was calculated as 912 feet and the distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle was 1,556 feet. The normal takeoff flap configuration, as described in the Flight Manual, is the 10-degree setting. The flaps were found in the retracted position with the cockpit control in a matching setting.

the pilot's failure to fully remove an accumulation of ice and frost on the wings, which led to an inadvertent stall/mush and collision with the ground. A factor in the accident was the pilot's failure to correctly configure the flaps for takeoff.