- Date
- July 13, 1997, 18:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Woodeberry, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N7981Grumman-Schweizer G-164A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 2, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970713018229A
- Case key
- 38312
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
in-flight collision with a fence during takeoff. Factors in this accident were the pilot's inadequate pre-flight by not calculating the total weight of the airplane, and high temperatures.
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 flight was departing from a 1,500 foot grass runway, and did not accelerate. The pilot managed to get airborne, but struck a 6- to 7 foot high fence at the departure end of the runway, with the landing gear, and impacted in a field about 75 feet from the fence. The pilot stated that the 'RPM and manifold pressure was normal...the aircraft felt like it did not accelerate as fast as normal...the aircraft may have been heavy for the runway length and density altitude.'
Factual narrative
On July 13, 1997, about 1800 central daylight time, a Grumman-Schweizer G-164A, N7981, registered to Kiser Aviation, crashed during takeoff at Woodberry, Tennessee. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the Title 14 CFR Part 137, local aerial application flight. The airline transport-rated pilot was not injured. The airplane was destroyed. The fight was originating at the time of the accident.
The pilot said he was departing from a 1,500-foot grass runway, and that the airplane "did not accelerate as fast as it should." He managed to get airborne, but struck a 6- to 7-foot-high fence at the departure end of the runway, with the landing gear, and impacted in a field about 75 feet from the fence.
According to the FAA inspector's report, the pilot stated that the "RPM and manifold pressure was normal...the aircraft felt like it did not accelerate as fast as normal...the aircraft may have been heavy for the runway length and density altitude."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7981
- Reported as
- Grumman-Schweizer G-164A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 845
- Airframe hours
- 8,350
- Engine
- P&W R-1340, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Kiser Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 20, 1997 · 355 hours before
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 10,100 total · 350 in this make and model · 9,200 as pilot in command · 140 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MBT, 20 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.