Accident Details
Probable Cause and Findings
The pilot's failure to verify that his seat was locked prior to takeoff. The subsequent bounce on takeoff enabled the seat to shift aft thereby reducing the pilot's access to controls leading to the inadvertent loss of control and ground impact with trees. Contributing factors were rough and uneven runway surface and the trees.
Aircraft Information
Registered Owner (Historical)
Analysis
On December 29, 1999, at 1600 central standard time, a Cessna 170B, N3276A, collided with trees during an attempted takeoff from a sod strip near Oakland, Alabama. The personal flight was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the private pilot was not injured. The flight departed Oakland, Alabama, at 1600.
According to the pilot, as the airplane accelerated for the takeoff, the landing gear rolled over a rut in the runway surface and the airplane bounced. When the airplane bounced, the pilot reported that his seat moved rearward, he could not reach the flight controls, and he lost control of the airplane. The airplane veered off the left side of runway 12 and collided with trees.
An examination of the runway surface revealed that the clay and gravel runway had ruts in the center of the takeoff area. The examination of the airplane seat assembly revealed that both the seat rails and the seat locking pins were in serviceable condition.
Data Source
Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# ATL00LA020