Cessna 172 N919YA accident near Goddard, Kansas

Probable cause

The pilot did not maintain airspeed during takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s poor preflight planning.

NTSB analysis

The pilot departed from a 2,200-foot grass strip with an 8-knot tailwind. There were 35-foot high power lines at the departure end of the airstrip, the grass was wet, and the first third of the runway sloped uphill. The pilot stated that the airplane became airborne further down the runway than he originally expected. He was concerned that he would not clear the power lines and initially attempted to fly under them; however, when the pilot saw a road grader driving across his flight path, he pitched up, added an additional 10 degrees of flaps, and attempted to fly over the power lines. After clearing the power lines, the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall, descended, and collided with the ground in a nose-low attitude. No preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures were found that would have precluded normal operation. Performance calculations showed the airplane would have required 2,181 feet of runway to clear a 50 foot obstacle for an 8 knot downwind takeoff on a dry grass runway. Because the runway was wet and the first third was uphill, the required distance would have been longer.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN10LA381 for the full record.