Collision on ground involving a Cessna 150F, VH-ICE, 21 km south-west of Mittagong (ALA), New South Wales, on 9 February 2013

On 9 February 2013, a Cessna 150F, registered VH-ICE (ICE), landed on the 11^th fairway of the Mt Broughton Golf Club, New South Wales after the initial leg of a return flight from Robertson. The pilot was the only person on-board and had been authorised and pre-arranged with the Golf Club to use the fairway as a landing area.

After landing to the south, the pilot backtracked along the landing area to conduct a short field take-off in the same direction.

The pilot reported that the aircraft accelerated as normal, however during the take-off run he realised the aircraft would not clear the trees at the end of the landing area and elected to reject the take-off. The left wing impacted a tree; the aircraft turned over and came to rest inverted. The pilot was uninjured, and the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

An insurance assessor attended the accident site and reviewed the landing area. The assessor determined that the effective available take-off length of the landing area was 1,180 ft. Based on performance charts in the approved Cessna 150F owner’s manual, the take-off distance required by the unmodified Cessna 150 F was 1,583 ft. There was no available performance data that took into account the installation of the 160 hp engine.

This accident highlights the importance of following the published performance data for your aircraft and knowing the performance requirements, physical characteristics and dimensions of the landing area that you are intending to take-off and land on. Other factors, such as environmental conditions, may affect the usable landing area length needed for a safe take off, landing or rejected take-off.

Aviation Short Investigation Bulletin Issue 19