- Date
- May 18, 1983, 13:10 local (20:10 UTC)
- Place
- Emigrant Gap, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N2960XPiper PA 28-236
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830518019799A
- Case key
- 23716
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 acft collided with trees during takeoff. The CFI and student had made a landing on a rwy that was 2/3 covered with snow. They thought they could make a short field landing and a short field running takeoff. They nosed down in the snow during the attempted takeoff. Assesing the damage in this mishap as minor they restarted the acft after pushing it out of the snow. A takeoff from the cleared 1/3 of the rwy toward the snow resulted in an abort in the snow. They decided totakeoff from the snow covered area toward the cleared end of the rwy. This left no room for an abort. When airborne, using flaps but out of ground effect, the acft settled into the trees. The arpt is closed by snow in winter months with no snow removal plans and is so noted in the guide to arpts. The area cleared by the wind and used by this flt was about 750 ft long.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2960X
- Reported as
- Piper PA 28-236
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7911276
- Airframe hours
- 1,073
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-J3A5D, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Navajo Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Malcolm Vineberg, Jr.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 27, 1982 · 73 hours before
- Destination
- CCR · Concord, CA
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- BLU · Blue Canyon, runway 15, 3,300 × 50 ft, snow
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
- 62
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,789 total · 60 in this make and model · 7,637 as pilot in command · 111 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BLU
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.