N171RJ

On April 12, 1996, about 1930 hours Pacific daylight time, N171RJ, a Cessna 150, operated by Fountain Rental & Leasing, Inc., Bellingham, Washington, collided with trees during an aborted takeoff from an airstrip on Spiden Island, Washington, and was substantially damaged. The commercial pilot and his passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The personal flight was destined for Bellingham and was conducted under 14 CFR 91.

The pilot stated that he had flown into the 1,500-foot grass airstrip at Spiden Island earlier in the day with a flight instructor in a Cessna 185. After the landing, he and the instructor immediately took off. He stated: "With all the power of a [Cessna] 185 we flew right off the ground using only 1/3 of the strip."

Later that day, the pilot rented the Cessna 150 and took a friend on a personal flight to the same grass airstrip. He stated that he landed the airplane uphill to the east without incident. He then turned around and began a takeoff roll downhill to the west. The pilot further stated:

We got about 2/3 of the way down the strip and I was not getting the necessary airspeed to rotate. At that moment I made the decision to pull off the power and stomp on the brakes. The strip was grass and wet and down hill. We subsequently could not stop in time and sailed off the end of the strip which was an embankment that went down hill through the trees.

The airplane impacted trees and was substantially damaged. No mechanical malfunctions were reported by the pilot.

The pilot also stated that "the strip was too small for the aircraft to take off on [and I] shouldn't have landed there with the conditions present."