N1823Q

On August 10, 1996, at 1100 central daylight time (cdt), a Beech BE-23, N1823Q, piloted by an airline transport rated flight instructor acting as pilot-in-command during a dual instructional flight, was destroyed when it collided with trees shortly after liftoff from runway 14 (1,480' x 40' dry turf) at the Westosha Airport, Wilmot, Wisconsin. The instructor and student pilot reported no injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight was not operating on a flight plan. The flight departed Wilmot, Wisconsin, at 1059 cdt.

According to the certified flight instructor's (CFI) written statement, he and the student pilot were performing approach turn stall maneuvers and inflight emergency procedures. The student pilot was on her last check out flight for her private pilot's license. He decide to show the student pilot a soft field landing and takeoff at Westosha Airport. The student pilot made the landing, but on departure, "...the plane would not maintain a positive rate of climb and settled into the trees.".

According to the student pilot's written statement, she had just made the landing to runway 14, at Westosha Airport and back taxied to the approach end of runway 14. The CFI said he would demonstrate a soft field takeoff. The student pilot stated, "...give full power, we ran the full length of the runway. The airplane had hardly become airborne. We clipped the high bushes at the runway, couldn't maintain altitude...".

The IIC calculated the takeoff ground run using the Beechcraft Musketeer A23,A23A Pilot Operating Handbook, at 2,350 pounds with level dry paved surface, 10 knots of headwind to be 1,276 feet. To clear a 50 foot obstacle, it was calculated to be 2,211 feet.