- Date
- July 29, 2022, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sturgeon Lake, MN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N42584Piper J3C-65
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO MSP
- FAA report
- 20220729013579A
- Case key
- 105631
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during takeoff from a gravel driveway resulting in an impact with a tree.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that he was taking off from a private gravel driveway when the airplane’s right wheel went off the edge of the driveway into a drainage ditch. The airplane subsequently veered to the right, crossed a road, and impacted a small tree. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N42584
- Reported as
- Piper J3C-65
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 14865
- Built
- 1945
- Engine
- Continental A-75, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Schwandt Mary A
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 2022 · 2,120 hours before
- Departed
- OSH · Oshkosh, WI
- Destination
- Y49 · Walker, MN
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 74 °F
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 13, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.