- Date
- September 3, 2020, 11:21 local (15:21 UTC)
- Place
- Morrisville, VT
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N170JSCessna 170
- 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- Textron Aviation, FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200903017769A
- Case key
- 101916
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 and subsequent exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and collision with terrain.
Findings · 3
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
According to the right seat pilot/owner of the tailwheel-equipped airplane, she was demonstrating a short field takeoff to the passenger on a grass area adjacent to the airport’s single paved runway. After adding power and releasing the brakes, the airplane veered to the left toward a ditch between the grass area and the paved runway. The pilot attempted to steer away from the ditch by applying rudder control inputs but was unsuccessful. As the airplane approached the ditch she elected to rotate. The airplane briefly became airborne then stalled and impacted terrain. The pilot and the passenger were seriously injured and the airplane’s fuselage and both wings were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N170JS
- Reported as
- Cessna 170 (A)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19546
- Built
- 1950
- Airframe hours
- 5,720
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 14, 2019
- Airport
- MVL · Morrisville-Stowe State, runway 01, 3,700 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 56
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 2,200 total · 1,400 in this make and model · 2,200 as pilot in command · 55.8 in the last 90 days · 12.7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,900 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- KMVL
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 22, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 11.4 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.