- Date
- November 14, 2024, 12:10 local (19:10 UTC)
- Place
- Lewiston, MT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N247CCCharlie Guinn CCK-1865
- 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
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20241114016309A
- Case key
- 195523
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 in a gusting tailwind, which resulted in an impact with a tree.
Findings · 4
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
The pilot of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that during a downhill takeoff roll from a grass strip with a gusting right quartering tailwind, the airplane started to veer to the right. The pilot applied left rudder control, and the airplane started to veer to the left. As the airplane became airborne, the airplane drifted left of the airstrip and struck a tree. Subsequently, the airplane landed hard on terrain. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. At the time of the accident, the pilot was taking off to the southeast with wind from 280° at 13 knots, gusting to 18 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N247CC
- Reported as
- Charlie Guinn CCK-1865
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- CCK1865-0022
- Built
- 2012
- Airframe hours
- 230.4
- Engine
- Cub Crafters CC340, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · December 9, 2023 · 49 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- PVT · Durfee Hills, runway 15, 1,200 × 60 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- None
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
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 22, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 297.3 total · 159.7 in this make and model · 240.1 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 7.7 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 13 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.81 inHg
- Observed at
- 19MT, 6 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 9, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.0 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.