The local parachuting flight was to depart from the airport owned and maintained by the pilot. During the initial climb after takeoff from runway 09, the airplane drifted right and struck trees about 500 feet down the runway. The pilot stated that he did not see the trees before hitting them. A passenger stated that the pilot did not make any changes to the airplane’s flight path prior to impact with the trees.
Category: C-180
During its takeoff roll from a sod runway, the airplane’s pilot said a deer was running toward the airplane from its right side. The pilot said she ‘…throttled back and hit the brakes…[and the airplane] ground looped.’ Ground scars on the runway confirmed that the airplane made a left-hand, 180 degree turn that resulted in a collapsed right main landing gear and the outboard half of the right wing was bent upward about 20 degrees.
The airplane was configured with a single seat, one set of controls, and with seat belts on the floor to haul parachutists. Also, it was loaded to an estimated gross weight of 2,834 lbs; the maximum certificated gross weight was 2,550 lbs. The pilot took off from a soft sod runway (rwy 9) with a crosswind component.
The pilot lost control of the tailwheel equipped airplane while attempting to land on runway 18 with a crosswind from 290 at 19 knots, gusting to 37. The airplane ground looped and the left wing spar was damaged when the wing impacted the ground.
The plt rprtd that the left main gear collapsed as he started to taxi from the ramp area on a smooth grass surface. When the gear collapsed, the left wing dropped to the ground & was substantially dmgd. The plt rprtd the left gear leg had broken off 2 inches ‘inside the bulkhead.’ an exam of the broken part revealed it had failed from fatigue.
The purpose of the flt was to transport 3 student parachute jumpers. After the jumpers egressed, the plt & jumpmaster returned to the arpt. During the landing, the acft hit a ridge on the grass rwy & bounced in the air. The acft then touched down in a crab, slid sideways & the left main gear collapsed. According to the plt, the wind was from the northeast at 5 gusting 10 kts.
The pilot reported that he had 20 gal of fuel on board when he took off. He climbed to 10,000 ft for a parachute jump, then returned to the airport with an estimated 10 gal of fuel. During a downwind landing, he elected to go around. He said the engine lost power as he was climbing through about 75 ft agl. A forced landing was made in a small pasture. Initially, the mishap was reported as an incident. Before the aircraft was examined, wings had been removed and the aircraft and wings had been transported from the accident site. When examined, both wing tanks were empty, except a small amount of 100 low lead (blue) fuel was found in the right wing tank. Fluid taken from the lines to the left wing tanks had the appearance of automotive fuel. The owner reported that automotive fuel had previously been used. No fuel was found in the carburetor.