N9341NPiper PA-28R-200 · 1969

On August 27, 2020, about 1154 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA28R-200, N9341N, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Fletcher, North Carolina. The pilot and pilot-rated passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

According to the pilot, they departed from Air Harbor Airport (W88), Greensboro, North Carolina about 0930. He reported that the flight to Six Oaks Airport (NC67), Fletcher, North Carolina, which was about an hour and a half, was uneventful and that everything was "normal."

After dropping off items at NC67, the pilot and passenger boarded the airplane and decided to depart from runway 06, a 2,600 ft-long turf runway, since the winds were light and variable. Furthermore, the owner of the property advised that they should depart from that runway because several obstacles were located off the departure end of the reciprocal runway. The pilot noted that the turf was "a little bit soft," because of recent rainfall, but it seemed solid. Before takeoff, the pilot performed an engine run-up with no anomalies noted and set the flaps at 25° for a soft field takeoff.

The pilot applied full throttle for takeoff and noted that the airplane was "slow" to accelerate, which he thought was because of the soft turf. As the airspeed increased to 55-60 knots the pilot performed a soft field takeoff. He noted that, as the airplane was in ground effect, it was not accelerating. He raised the landing gear to increase performance, but the airplane began to settle. He stated that the engine "was not making power." The airplane descended into a corn field and impacted the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The airplane came to rest about 500 ft from the departure end of the runway in the corn field. Prior to egressing the airplane, the pilot turned the fuel selector to the OFF position and all the switches off.

Crankshaft and valvetrain continuity were confirmed during examination of the engine when the propeller was rotated through 360° of motion. The magnetos produced spark at all leads, and thumb compression was confirmed on all cylinders. The magneto timing was checked, and no anomalies were noted. The fuel lines to the engine driven fuel pump were removed and no fuel was noted in the lines. The fuel flow divider was examined, and no fuel was noted. The fuel servo was examined, and no fuel was noted. The gascolator was examined and no fuel was noted. The electric and engine-driven fuel pumps were removed, tested, and operated without anomaly.

The fuel was plumbed to the engine, it started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran continuously without interruption. It ran for 8 minutes at 2,500 rpm prior to the fuel selector being moved to the OFF position.

Recovery personnel reported that they drained fuel from the fuel tanks during recovery but did not turn off the fuel selector during the recovery. There was no debris noted in the fuel drained from the wings.

According to the icing probability chart in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) CE-09-35, weather conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide power.