Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Laurel Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Laurel, Delaware 19956
Saturday, November 5, 2005 18:07 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Another pilot successfully landed the airplane in a farm field after an inadvertent engine stoppage earlier in the day. The accident pilot/owner responded to the field to recover the airplane with a flight instructor and a mechanic, and was met there by an FAA inspector. The airplane was deemed airworthy, and the pilot announced his plan to takeoff from the unlit field at night. The FAA inspector, the flight instructor, and the mechanic all attempted to dissuade the pilot from his plan, but he attempted the takeoff after the inspector left the scene, 41 minutes after civil twilight. According to the flight instructor, "He was at full throttle the whole time. He pitched up, and never lowered the nose. He drug the tail the whole time. He was at full throttle and went up over a barn, hit a sign, went over the road, under the power lines, up an embankment, and down in the field." The airplane bounced in the field, struck the right wing, then nosed into the ground, and came to rest. The engine was at full power the entire time, and the engine stopped when the propeller struck the ground. Immediately after the accident, the pilot told the FAA inspector that the accident resulted from his "poor soft field technique." He later told the Safety Board that the engine lost power during takeoff. After the accident, the engine started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran to full power without interruption on the airframe. When the flight instructor was asked if he had endorsed the pilot's plan for takeoff, he responded, "No. We all discussed it, but he's pig-headed, you can't tell him anything. The FAA inspector told him not to do it, but he said, 'It's my airplane, and it's airworthy. I'm taking off.' I told him that he could go the opposite way, or we could take the wings off and truck it out of there. From my perspective, he did the procedure completely wrong."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper decision to takeoff from an unimproved field, and his subsequent failure to abort the takeoff prior to collision with a sign and an embankment. Factors in the accident were his improper soft field technique, and the dark night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/5/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1807 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Laurel |
| Event State | DELAWARE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 19956 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 383219N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0753523W |
| Event Location Airport | Laurel Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KN06 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 30 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1754 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 342 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SBY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 52 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20672 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 5 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2006 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Philadelphia, PA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3540U |
| NTSB Number | NYC06LA026 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 172S8952 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2660 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 2551 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert R. Wilkins |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 120 Old Churchman's Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | New Castle |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Laurel |
| Departure State | DE |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ILG |
| Destination City | WILMINGTON |
| Destination State | DE |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - roll/run |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 31 2006 10:18AM |
| User who most recently changed record | ANDJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |