- Date
- August 28, 1998, 14:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lamar, CO
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N704DLCessna 150M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980828022469A
- Case key
- 43846
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 climb airspeed, and inadvertently allowing the airplane to stall/mush. A factor was the embankment.
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
The pilot used 10 degrees of flaps 'for a short field takeoff' in an attempt to take off from a farmer's hayfield. The airplane lifted off at 50 KIAS (knots indicated airspeed) and began climbing. The pilot then noticed the airplane had begun descending. He said engine power 'was 100 per cent and airspeed was less than 50 knots.' The airplane struck the ground, crossed a drainage ditch, collided with an embankment, and nosed over.
Factual narrative
On August 28, 1998, approximately 1400 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 150M, N704DL, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain during takeoff from an open field near Lamar, Colorado. The student pilot, the sole occupant aboard, sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the instructional solo flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.
The pilot said he departed Air Care Crop Dusting, a private airstrip located about 8 miles northeast of Lamar, and flew to a farmer-friend's hayfield at May Valley, Colorado, located about 5 miles north of Lamar, where he landed. After having a conversation with his friend, he departed. According to his accident report, the pilot used 10 (degrees) of flaps "for a short field takeoff." The airplane lifted off at 50 KIAS (knots indicated airspeed) and began climbing. The pilot then noticed the airplane had begun descending. He said engine power "was 100 per cent and airspeed was less than 50 knots." The airplane struck the ground, crossed a drainage ditch, collided with an embankment, and nosed over. The left wing was bent and the vertical stabilizer was crushed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N704DL
- Reported as
- Cessna 150M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15078528
- Airframe hours
- 6,533
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- David Payne
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 1998 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- NONE
- Destination
- LAA · Lamar, CO
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
- 28
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 41 total · 5 in this make and model · 10 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 95 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.