Piper J3C-65 N146TM

Summary

On 27 April 2000 at about 19:50 local time, a Piper J3C-65 registered N146TM, operated by Thomas Noonan, was involved in an accident near Healdsburg, California, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 April 2000 at 19:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Healdsburg, California, United States

Nearest airport

Healdsburg Municipal (O31)

Coordinates

38.6295, -122.8894

Aircraft

Piper J3C-65

Registration

N146TM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Thomas Noonan

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX00LA174

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the flight review pilot to compensate for the crosswind and maintain flying speed during takeoff.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The runway is situated on a plateau with a windsock located at the departure end of the runway on a 30-foot steel pole. During climb out the airplane encountered a crosswind approximately 30 feet above the runway. Due to the unfavorable wind condition, the pilot was unable to maintain runway alignment and noted that the airplane did not gain altitude. The CFI took the control yoke and attempted to maintain airspeed and altitude while trying to avoid a vineyard. He noted that they were running out of suitable airport environment and terrain to make a forced landing and were not able to climb. In order to avoid the windsock, the CFI had to raise the nose; the airplane stalled and impacted a grassy area about 100 feet from the runway edge and about 20 feet below the airport.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.