N3235X

On April 19, 1997, about 1615 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150G, N3235X, registered to a private owner, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91, local personal flight, impacted with a tree near Raleigh, North Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private pilot was not injured. The flight had originated about 15 minutes before the accident.

The pilot was approaching runway 01, and on short final the airplane was seen drifting off the runway center line. The pilot stated, "as I began to flare a big gust of wind blew across the runway." He attempted to avoid trees that were in front of him by applying "full power," and gain some airspeed. The airplane continued to drift, and struck trees along side the runway. A witness standing by the wind sock at the airport told the FAA that he saw N3235X in a "normal" traffic pattern and watched him make a "normal" approach. The witnesses said, "everything looked good until he got near the [runway] numbers...it was gusty and the wind was out of the west." The witness heard power being applied to the airplane's engine, and he thought the pilot was "going around." He watched the airplane and said "he had a high pitch attitude...the wind started blowing him off the runway...[the airplane] continued to drift...and hit one of the pine trees...he still had power on...."

The pilot said he called the Raleigh Flight Service Station (FSS), and received a weather briefing on the winds. He further said that he planned to fly for 2 hours, but when he got to altitude it was "rough and turbulent," so he elected to return to the departure airport. The reported winds at the time of the accident were from 260 degrees at 10 knots, with gusts to 16 knots.