- Date
- September 26, 2020, 09:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- New Smyrna Beach, FL · Massey Ranch Airpark (X50)
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N89476Cessna 140
- 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
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200926017949A
- Case key
- 102038
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 decision to depart from a non-suitable surface, which resulted in a loss of directional control during takeoff roll.
Findings · 5
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
During the takeoff roll from a grass area adjacent the paved runway surface, the airplane’s left main landing gear wheel struck a “muddy pothole.” The airplane’s nose then veered down and to the left and the pilot lost directional control of the airplane. The airplane subsequently struck a fence, and the right wing impacted a tree substantially damaging it. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89476
- Reported as
- Cessna 140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8507
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 3,748
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 8, 2019 · 156 hours before
- Departed
- X50 · Edgewater, FL
- Destination
- 7FL6 · Port Orange, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- X50 · Massey Ranch Airpark, runway 36, 4,300 × 60 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B, 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.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 26
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Remote, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 729 total · 402 in this make and model · 651 as pilot in command · 81 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 2997.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DAB, 13 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 9, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 13.8 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.