19980506008499A

Struck trees on rising terrain on takeoff. In valley showed no wind but above trees had tailwind. (.4)according to the pilot-in-command (PIC), after a local flight of about 1 hour, the two pilots decided to 'check-out' a grass strip that they had flown over. The grass runway was oriented north/south and they landed on runway 18. On approach, they noted that the runway was 'uphill.' After landing, they noted that the wind shocks indicated that the ground winds were 'calm.' They elected to depart on runway 36, and the PIC initiated a 'short' field takeoff. They crossed a road at the north end of the field, and the PIC stated, '...but [the airplane] did not clear the trees.' He said, '...we clipped the top of the first tree and the prop went through the second...we caught a larger tree on the inboard right wing.' The reported winds about 10 miles north of the crash site were from 150 degrees at 9 knots. (-23)the winds reported at a near by airport indicted 150 at 9 KTS. Air Acres wind sock indicates no wind, because the airport 18 surrounded by trees. The pilot choose runway 36 for takeoff on a short grass with rising terr ain in his flight pat. The aircraft lacked approximately five feet clearing the trees on the rising terrain.