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SEA92FA161

1992-07-23 · DONNELLY, Idaho, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport U84

N27JF has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SMITH AVIATION CORP SUPER CUB REPLICA), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED AFTER TAKEOFF WHILE USING IMPROPER OBSTACLE TAKEOFF PROCEDURES. FACTORS INCLUDE EXCESSIVE FLAP EXTENSION.

Factual narrative

THE PRIVATE PILOT INITIATED A TAKEOFF FROM A SOD RUNWAY AT 4860 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL WITH THE MIXTURE CONTROL IN THE RICH POSITION AND THE FLAPS EXTENDED TWENTY DEGREES. TREES ARE LOCATED AT THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY, BUT THEY CAN BE AVOIDED BY A SLIGHT RIGHT TURN AFTER TAKEOFF, WHICH ALLOWS FLYING OVER A RIVER. THE AIRCRAFT OWNER'S MANUAL STATES THAT NORMAL AND OBSTACLE CLEARANCE TAKEOFFS ARE PERFORMED WITH WING FLAPS UP, BUT DOES PROVIDE FOR USE OF TEN DEGREES OF FLAPS FOR TAKEOFFS WITH NO OBSTACLES AHEAD. A WITNESS OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT LIFTING OFF IN A STALL CONFIGURATION, CLIMBING NO HIGHER THAN THE TREES BEFORE THE LEFT WING DROPPED AND IT CRASHED IN A FIELD ADJACENT TO THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_SEA92FA161.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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