- Date
- August 10, 1996, 11:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wilmot, WI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N1823QBeech 23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 23, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960810031179A
- Case key
- 10354
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
improper planning/decision by the flight instructor (CFI) by failing to ensure that the airplane would be able to clear brush and trees near the departure end of the runway.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
A certified flight instructor (CFI) was demonstrating a soft field landing and takeoff to a student pilot. After landing, they back-taxied to the approach end of the 1,480 foot turf runway and initiated a takeoff. After lift-off near the departure end, the airplane hit bushes and would not maintain a positive rate of climb. It then settled into trees and crashed. Using the pilot operating handbook, the ground run on a paved runway was calculated to be 1,276 feet. To clear a 50 foot obstacle after taking off from a paved runway, the required distance was calculated to be 2,211 feet.
Factual narrative
On August 10, 1996, at 1100 central daylight time (cdt), a Beech BE-23, N1823Q, piloted by an airline transport rated flight instructor acting as pilot-in-command during a dual instructional flight, was destroyed when it collided with trees shortly after liftoff from runway 14 (1,480' x 40' dry turf) at the Westosha Airport, Wilmot, Wisconsin. The instructor and student pilot reported no injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight was not operating on a flight plan. The flight departed Wilmot, Wisconsin, at 1059 cdt.
According to the certified flight instructor's (CFI) written statement, he and the student pilot were performing approach turn stall maneuvers and inflight emergency procedures. The student pilot was on her last check out flight for her private pilot's license. He decide to show the student pilot a soft field landing and takeoff at Westosha Airport. The student pilot made the landing, but on departure, "...the plane would not maintain a positive rate of climb and settled into the trees.".
According to the student pilot's written statement, she had just made the landing to runway 14, at Westosha Airport and back taxied to the approach end of runway 14. The CFI said he would demonstrate a soft field takeoff. The student pilot stated, "...give full power, we ran the full length of the runway. The airplane had hardly become airborne. We clipped the high bushes at the runway, couldn't maintain altitude...".
The IIC calculated the takeoff ground run using the Beechcraft Musketeer A23,A23A Pilot Operating Handbook, at 2,350 pounds with level dry paved surface, 10 knots of headwind to be 1,276 feet. To clear a 50 foot obstacle, it was calculated to be 2,211 feet.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1823Q
- Reported as
- Beech 23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2328
- Airframe hours
- 1,826
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4K, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Schelmm, Susan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 30, 1996 · 14 hours before
- Departed
- WI10
- Destination
- WI10
- Airport
- WI10 · Westosha, runway 14, 1,480 × 40 ft, grass/turf
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.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 46
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 4,672 total · 250 in this make and model · 4,112 as pilot in command · 80 in the last 90 days · 55 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- JVL, 37 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.