COVEY Tri Quickie — Gila Bend, AZ

What happened

The pilot had recently purchased the airplane and was flying it back to his home airport with a passenger onboard. The pilot had stopped at the accident airport the evening before the accident and refueled the airplane for departure the following day. A witness observed the accident airplane taxi to the runway hold short line, where it remained for about 20 minutes with the engine running. The witness saw the airplane depart, and about a 1/3 of the way down the 5,200-ft-long runway, observed a dirt cloud and surmised that the landing gear must have departed the runway surface. The airplane returned to the runway centerline. The witness stated that the airplane continued, and about midway down the runway, it appeared the airplane was “yanked off the runway,” and struggled to gain altitude. The witness estimated that the airplane reached an altitude of about 50 ft above ground level when it turned to the left, stalled, and impacted the ground.

Using recorded weather conditions from a nearby weather reporting station, the calculated density altitude was about 3,486 ft at the time of the accident.

Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation; however, the examination was limited due to thermal damage sustained in the post-impact fire.

It is likely that the airplane’s takeoff performance was degraded by the high-density altitude conditions, which would have resulted in an increased takeoff distance and decreased climb performance. It is also likely that, after the airplane became airborne, the pilot inadvertently exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, loss of control and impact with the ground.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.