20020811026439A

(-23) Based on all information obtained from the fixed base operator (FBO) renting this aircraft, approximately forty minutes of fuel was burned off full tanks at the time of the accident. Mr. Holt departed Centerville municipal airport (ghm) in an over gross weight condition with center of gravity well aft of limits. Mr. Holt had under two hours of flight time in this make/model aircraft. The aircraft had one hundred pounds of bagged gravel in the baggage area used as ballast for single pilot operations for long cross country flights. Discussion with witnesses having observed this aircraft prior to departure indicate that the aircraft departed ghm, then impacted the terrain approximately .7 miles northeast of the airport from a near vertical descent. The passenger seated in the left rear seat was reported as weighing 330 pounds. No witnesses observed the aircraft takeoff from this uncontrolled airport. (.19) on August 11, 2002, about 1640 central daylight time, a Beech C23, N24041, operated and registered to tullahoma aviation inc., impacted with a tree and the ground shortly after takeoff from the Centerville municipal air port, Centerville, Tennessee. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. No flight plan was filed. The local personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR part 91. The airplane was destroyed. The private-rated pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. The flight was originating at the time. The airplane was rented and had departed from tullahoma aviation about 1515, with the pilot and a female passenger. The flight landed about 40 minutes later at Centerville. The pilot shut the engine down, and both occupants exited the airplane. The female departed the area. A short time later, the pilot and two male passengers boarded the airplane, the flight departed to the north. The airplane was seen at a low altitude, in a left turn, then entered a nose-low attitude, impacted with a tree, and then the ground. A postcrash fire erupted. An employee of the airport saw the three males enter the airplane. The pilot, who weighed 170 pounds, was sitting in the left front seat. One male passenger weighing about 160 pounds was sitting in the right front seat, and a male passenger, weighing about 330 pounds was sitting in the rear seat behind the pilot. The owner of the airplane told investigators that two 50-pound bags of rocks, used to balance the airplane when there are only two occupants in the front seats, were in the baggage compartment. The owner also told investigators that the airplane was full of fuel when the it departed tullahoma, and there should have been about 300 pounds of fuel on the airplane at the time of the accident. The elevation at the airport was 768 feet, and the computed density altitude at the time of the accident was 2,662 feet.