Cessna 140 N2011N

Summary

On 12 March 2018 at about 22:15 local time, a Cessna 140 registered N2011N was involved in an accident near Madison, South Dakota, 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

12 March 2018 at 22:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Madison, South Dakota, United States

Nearest airport

Madison Muni (MDS)

Coordinates

44.0128, -97.0867

Aircraft

Cessna 140

Registration

N2011N

Category

Airplane

Year built

1947

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Madison → Madison

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA18CA166

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s delayed aborted takeoff on a soft, wet, grass runway, which resulted in a runway overrun.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor, acting as a safety pilot, in the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, to expedite takeoff, he decided to take off from the grass runway instead of the concrete runway. He added that, about midway into the soft-field takeoff roll, he observed that the airplane was "struggling to build airspeed." He added that the runway had previously thawed and was "wet spongy sod." He reduced power and began to apply the brakes to abort the takeoff, but the airplane overran the runway, impacted a snow bank, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.