SEA97LA150

Factual narrative

On June 20, 1997, about 1630 Pacific daylight time, N9017, a homebuilt Corben Junior Ace impacted terrain during take off from Pangborn Memorial airport, East Wenatchee, Washington. Visual conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The aircraft received substantial damage but neither the instructor or the student received any injuries. The flight was departing the airport for a local instructional flight. The student, who was a commercial pilot, was receiving instruction in the aircraft in order to receive a tail wheel endorsement. According to the flight instructors statement, they were taking off from a grass runway. As the airplane was breaking ground, the student closed the throttle. The instructor felt it was too late in the take off to stop safely so he applied full throttle and told the student to complete the take off. The airplane veered to the right but became airborne past the end of the runway. The aircraft stalled, out of ground effect, and collided with the ground. During takeoff from a grass strip on an instructional flight, the commercially-rated student closed the throttle. The instructor felt it was too late to stop safety so he applied full throttle and told the student to complete the takeoff. The airplane veered to the right but became airborne past the end of the runway, then stalled and collided with the ground. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12