20020702015509A

(.19) On July 2, 2002, at 1500 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28RT-201, N8143B , registered to airhead LLC and operated by air tech, collided with a power line and terrain during initial climb after takeoff from Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, Tennessee. The instructional flight was operated under the provisions of title 14 CFR part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage, the certificated flight instructor and the pilot-rated student sustained fatal injuries, and the pilot-rated passenger received minor injuries. The flight departed Lebanon, Tennessee, at 1459. According to the pilot-rated passenger, the airplane climbed at a rate of 600 to 700 feet per minute. He stated he had a feeling something was wrong, and he looked at the flight instructor and the pilot-rated student. He stated he heard the flight instructor say, "keep the airspeed up." He stated he then saw the trees coming up, and he saw the flight instructor take control of the airplane and make a right turn. The passenger then saw a barn, and the airplane struck a power line, and saw a flash. Witnesses at theairport observed the airplane depart runway 19. One witness stated the airplane sounded normal, but did not appear to climb normally, as if it were unable to gain altitude. The witness stated that, as he watched the airplane pass, he could see the top of the wings, because the nose was very high. Another witness, a private pilot, stated the airplane started to climb with the tail very low, and it never climbed much. The witness watched the airplane fly down the runway and low over the trees off the departure end. The witness stated the right wing then dropped, and the airplane disappeared behind the trees. The wreckage was found approximately one mile south of end of the runway. The left wing was separated and sustained fire damage. The fuselage was found 145 feet west of the left wing, and the fuselage displayed crush damage on the left side. Power lines near where the left wing was located were found downed. (-23) with a commercial pilot in the right front seat training for his flight instructor certificate, and a rated flight instructor in the left front seat, and a private pilot in the rear seat, the aircraft initially departed nashville for a flight to Lebanon, Tennessee. Following a precautionary landing at Lebanon, TN due to a failure of the landing gear to retract during traffic pattern work, the pilots stopped and shutdown the aircraft on a taxiway where the 3 pilots traded seats. The previous pilot moved to the right rear, the private pilot seated himself in the left front seat, and the rated flight instructor was seated in the right front seat. The surviving passenger in the rear seat stated to an FAA operations inspector and an FAA airworthiness inspector that the two pilots decided to fly the aircraft back to nashville with the landing gear extended. The surviving passenger also stated that the two pilots discovered a discrepancy with the right magneto during the engine run-up, yet elected to depart anyway from runway 19. According to witnesses, the aircraft did not climb above 100-300 feet, and remained in a nose-high attitude beyond the end of runway 19, until it was observed to initiate a right turn just above a tree line. The surviving passenger in the right rear seat stated that the flight instructor took the controls, just before the aircraft hit a power line. The aircraft then impacted theground between a barn and a residence approximately 0.6 nautical miles from the end of the runway. AWOS data from the Lebanon airport indicates at the time of the accident, approximately 1500 hours local time, that the surface wind direction was 330 degrees at 4 knots velocity, with a density altitude of 2,700 feet. A witness reported the wind was between 10-15 knots at the time of the accident.