Dekalb-Peachtree Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Atlanta, Georgia 30341
Thursday, May 23, 2013 14:56 EDT

On May 23, 2013, about 1456 eastern daylight time a Beech A36, N8225T, was substantially damaged when it had an aerodynamic stall and impacted terrain shortly after takeoff at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), Atlanta, Georgia. The private pilot and four passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an IFR flight plan had been filed for the personal flight destined for Venice Municipal Airport (VNC), Venice, Florida, which was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. According to the pilot, the purpose of the flight was to fly to VNC for fuel and then continue on to their final destination, Key West International Airport (EYW), Key West, Florida. In anticipation of having a "full load" of passengers and baggage, two days before the trip, the pilot had fueled the airplane up to the "slots", which equated to 70 gallons of usable fuel onboard. On the day of the flight, he checked the weather and obtained a full weather briefing from flight service before leaving for the airport. When he and his passengers arrived at the airport, they loaded their possessions into the airplane and the pilot conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane. Everything was "good" and they pulled the plane out of the hangar, put their cars in the hangar, and got in the airplane. He then started the engine and started to taxi. One of the passengers however, had left his iPad in the hangar, so he taxied back to the hangar, shut down, and the passenger retrieved it. When the passenger returned, the pilot started the airplane again and taxied out to the end of the hangars, obtained the field conditions from the airport terminal information service, received his IFR clearance to VNC, then his clearance to taxi, and set the altimeter setting in the Kollsman window. He was cleared to taxi to runway 3L but, asked for runway 3R as he preferred to use runway 3R which was the longest runway at PDK. He then taxied to the run up area for runway 3L and completed the run up. Again, everything was normal. He was then cleared to cross 3L and hold short of 3R while waiting for release from air traffic control. There was a King Air behind him and he was asked to move over to let him by, which he did. Around this time, someone asked for a wind check and the tower replied that the wind was from 300 degrees (a direct cross wind). He then asked if Runway 34 was available and was told it was closed because of an air show. Then while they were waiting, or when they were cleared to depart, he looked at the wind sock and it seemed to be indicating a slight quartering tailwind. He performed a static takeoff, and double checked that all instruments were normal and in the green before releasing the brakes. At 50 knots indicated airspeed he cross-checked the instruments and everything was normal. He would normally try and rotate around 80-84 Knots and leave the landing gear down as long as there was runway remaining. He could not recall exactly what speed he rotated at, but it was "probably around 80 knots". Because of the cross wind, he applied left aileron during the takeoff. As he rotated, something didn't feel right. The stall warning horn started "chirping", the plane then turned into the wind, and did not takeoff with "its usual vigor". He leveled off to stop the stall horn and it still didn't feel right. The engine also didn't sound right. He believed that something was wrong and that he should abort the takeoff. He was not sure of his exact altitude at this point, but guessed that he was probably 30 feet above ground level. The engine, or prop, still didn't sound right. He still had runway remaining ahead of him and the landing gear was still down, so he radioed that he was "putting it back down". He decided to land on the runway and not risk an over run, so he reduced power and tried to glide it in. Shortly thereafter, the stall warning horn "blared", the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall and impacted the runway. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that, the airplane had incurred substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. Portions of the wreckage were retained by the NTSB for further examination.

Not Yet Reported