N9561P

On July 8, 1994, about 1515 central daylight time, a Piper PA-25 airplane, N9561P, sustained substantial damage during an attempted takeoff from a private airstrip in Crosby, North Dakota. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. The flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without flight plan under 14 CFR Part 91.

The pilot reported he was attempting to takeoff from the narrow airstrip with an empty chemical hopper for a local flight. He wrote in his report to the NTSB that the north/south oriented turf runway he selected for takeoff was much rougher than the east/west runway, but that the twenty knot prevailing wind from the north favored a takeoff to the north. During the takeoff roll, the pilot said that he felt the left main wheel "drop in a ridge" and that the spray boom subsequently caught in the adjacent wheat crop. The pilot lost directional control, and the airplane went into the wheat field.