- Date
- June 15, 2025, 14:19 local (21:19 UTC)
- Place
- Spokane Valley, WA
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N6848Boeing B75N1
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Ground collision
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 2, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA Spokane FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250615007499A
- Case key
- 200325
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 during a takeoff roll in quartering tailwind conditions.
Findings · 3
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 a tailwheel equipped airplane reported that while taking off from a grass runway during shifting wind conditions, the airplane did not accelerate, which he attributed to a quartering tailwind. The airplane began to drift left and, as it neared the edge of the runway, the pilot retarded the throttle to idle to abort the takeoff. The airplane subsequently impacted a pump house located along the runway edge that was not visible from the cockpit and nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to both wings, the vertical stabilizer, and the rudder. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6848
- Reported as
- Boeing B75N1
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 75-6848
- Built
- 1942
- Airframe hours
- 5,172.8
- Engine
- Continental W-670-6N, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Aerobatic; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 20, 2025
- Destination
- SFF · Spokane, WA
- Airport
- WN92 · Sky Meadows Airpark, runway 16, 3,100 × 100 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 18, 2025
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,913.6 total · 212.7 in this make and model · 1,719.2 as pilot in command · 51 in the last 90 days · 20.8 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- KSFF, 7 nm away
- METAR
- KSFF 152153Z COR 18007KT 10SM CLR 28/M01 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02781006
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 2, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.7 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.