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ERA23LA222

2023-05-07 · Hernando, Florida, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 5FL7

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate clearance from obstacles during takeoff at night.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated that he and the pilot-rated passenger were practicing full-stop landings from the turf runway on a dark, moonless night. The passenger had already completed three full-stop landings and he had completed two. The accident flight was going to be his last landing. During a takeoff, he lost visual reference of the tree line along the side of the runway and contacted some treetops. The airplane subsequently impacted the ground and the leading edges of the wings, and fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot and the passenger were seriously injured. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Identification/recognition-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Awareness of condition
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Dark-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_ERA23LA222.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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