ORSON, PA, USA
N6391M
CESSNA 152
The pilot misidentified a farm pasture as a privately owned airport. After realizing he had landed at the wrong place, he attempted a take-off. The pilot stated he decided to takeoff upwind and uphill, instead of downhill and downwind. After lift-off, the pilot determined that the airplane would not clear trees, and he aborted the takeoff. He landed and applied brakes, but the airplane struck a pile of dirt and shrubs about eight to ten feet high. It came to rest in a nose down attitude. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions.
On August 25, 1995, about 1745 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N6391M, struck bushes during takeoff from a field near Orson, New York. The airplane was substantially damaged, the commercial pilot and 1 passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The personal flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot stated on the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, that he was attempting to take off from "a short field grass runway, and the runway had [a] slight incline." According to the pilot he had an option of taking off downwind or up the incline into the wind. He stated: ...I believed into the wind would give better performance. Plane eventually lifted and started to climb. It seemed that there would be a problem clearing trees beyond runway end. I pushed plane back to [the] ground and braked as best I could. Plane overshot end of runway, hit...bushes, brush,...[and] went up on its nose.... According to the FAA Inspector's statement, the pilot had stated that he landed in a "farm pasture...because he thought it was Stahl Mountain Airport...a grass, privately owned airport about seven miles east of the farm pasture." The FAA Inspector stated: After realizing he had landed at the wrong place, he attempted a take-off. After lift-off, [the pilot] realized he would not clear trees in front of him and aborted...landed, rolled out and applied brakes, but ended up in a pile of dirt and shrubs about eight to ten feet high in a nose down vertical attitude...[the] pilot stated there were no obvious mechanical problems with the aircraft...he simply elected to abort the take-off climb out.... The local weather was; clear, visibility 20 miles, temperature 80 degrees F, dew point missing, wind missing, altimeter missing. At the time of the accident, the pilot had 1,328 total flight hours, 922 instructor flight hours and 25 flight hours in this make and model airplane.
The pilot's improper planning/decision, and his delay in aborting the takeoff, which resulted in a collision with a pile of dirt and shrubs. The upsloping terrain (for takeoff) was a factor.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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