NYC94FA161 · Rockwell 112A
Rockwell 112A · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Chenango Bridge Airport (1NK8) to Tangier Island Airport (TGI)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC94FA161
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Rockwell 112A
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell 112
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1253J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chenango Bridge Airport (1NK8), Chenango Bridge, NYTo Tangier Island Airport (TGI), TANGIER ISLAND, VA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT INITIATED A TAKEOFF UNDER CALM WIND CONDITIONS ON A TURF RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE STRUCK TREES APPROXIMATELY 50 FT HIGH AND 350 FT BEYOND THE DEPARTURE END OF THE 2000 FT LONG RUNWAY. COMPUTATIONS REVEALED THE AIRPLANE NEEDED 2280 FT WITH THE FLAPS AT 10 DEGREES, OR 1920 FEET WITH FLAPS 20 DEGREES TO CLEAR THE OBSTACLES ON A HARD SURFACE RUNWAY. THE TAKEOFF DISTANCE CHARTS CONTAINED THE FOLLOWING NOTE: 'ALLOWANCE MUST BE MADE FOR WET RUNWAYS, GRASS OR SOD RUNWAYS, OR OTHER ACTUAL ASSOCIATED CONDITIONS WHICH MAY DIFFER FROM THOSE ABOVE.' THE WING FLAPS WERE SET AT APPROXIMATELY 20 DEGREES. THERE WAS NO MANUFACTURER DATA PUBLISHED FOR COMPUTING THE ADDITIONAL TAKEOFF DISTANCE REQUIRED FOR A ROLLING-TURF SURFACED RUNWAY. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED REVEALED NO OBSTACLES WERE PRESENT FOR TAKEOFF ON THE RUNWAY IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT.
Probable cause
The pilot inadequate preflight preparation that resulted in the decision to attempt takeoff on a runway which was beyond the airplane takeoff performance capability to clear obstacles.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC94FA161
- Event ID
- 20001206X02119
- Case number
- NYC94FA161
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: a925fe5f5f6faa77bdbfc8f768b32593345de9712c784ca6caab863c13576568; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:02:12.223Z.