The pilot and his passenger landed the airplane at a friend’s off-airport field near Geuda Springs, Kansas.
After a brief visit, the pilot preflighted the airplane, started the engine, and proceeded to take off.
About halfway down the field, he realized he was not going to get off the ground in time and elected to abort the takeoff.
The airplane hit a terrace and bounced into the air.
As the end of the field approached, he tried to settle the airplane back on the ground.
The airplane hit a fence and nosed over, coming to rest inverted.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing, left wing strut, and vertical stabilizer.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to determine the airplane’s takeoff performance from an off-airport field, which resulted in an aborted takeoff and impact with a fence and terrain. Contributing to the accident was the delayed aborted takeoff.
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This October 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
The pilot reported that he aborted, the airplane hit a terrace, and it shot the airplane back into the air. That makes it sound like the airplane may have had the needed airspeed to get off a turf runway but maybe not the correct pitch (which is tail very low per the AFH), and the contact with the terrace may have somehow increased the pitch resulting in the liftoff.
Small-but tragic-world.
Several years ago, this used-to-be-gorgeous T/W converted 172 was for sale in Concrete WA. It was used to give scenic tours in the North Cascades. I called the seller as soon as I found out it was available & coordinated a time that day to meet him. I left home, with a wad of cash, and headed there…a 3-hour drive. When I arrived, the plane was sitting on the grass, posed with Mt. Baker in the background…it was lust at first sight. I thought “forget the pre-buy inspection, if it starts, I’m taking it.” I’d even brought my son in anticipation of him driving the truck home. The seller was very cordial, and let me drool over it for @ 30 minutes. When I asked about the logs, etc., started leaning into a “let’s fly it” direction, he said: “Oh, I forgot to tell you, I just took an offer on it, the guy is enroute and will be here tomorrow.” I asked when all this happened, since he knew I was driving up and he had my cell phone#: “About 3 hours ago”. Which is I when I was just leaving my house. My son had to restrain me.
BTW: the 20-yr old kid involved in this accident, was NOT the buyer he referred to.