Piper PA-18-150 N4030Z accident near Austin, Nevada

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was on a local flight around his home airport when he decided to see how much snow was on the local mountains. He observed a ridge top airstrip where he had landed on several previous occasions, and saw that most of it was blown clear of snow. He overflew the airstrip, decided that it looked good, and made an uneventful landing. He walked around a bit, looked at snow depths, and then departed back to his home airport. During the takeoff roll, the airplane drifted too far to the right over what he thought was ground covered with light snow. It was actually a snow drift made from snow that had blown to the side of the ridge. The airplane started pulling to the right as a result of contact with the snow drift. The pilot still thought that the airplane would take off without difficulty, but the right main tire broke through the crust and dug in. The airplane nosed over onto the snow drift, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR11CA098 for the full record.