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CHI00LA013 · Piper PA-32-300

20 Oct 1999 · Custer, SD, United States

Piper PA-32-300 · Accident: overrun during takeoff

From MJ Aviation Airport I (SD01) to Chamberlain Municipal Airport (9V9)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI00LA013
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
0 · 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

Piper PA-32-300

Aircraft type
Piper PA-32
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
N2XT
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From MJ Aviation Airport I (SD01)To Chamberlain Municipal Airport (9V9), Chamberlain, SD
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
Takeoff · rejected takeoff
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
Overrun
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, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Short field takeoff/procedure, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The pilot performed an intersection takeoff with 4,100 feet of usable runway remaining. As he took the runway for takeoff, the pilot advanced the throttle to half full, then followed with full throttle after the roll was initiated. The pilot said that the airplane did not perform as expected during the takeoff roll. 'The nose of the aircraft was gradually lifted off the runway and the typical liftoff and climbout power anticipated was absent.' The pilot determined the airplane was not going to get safely airborne and aborted the takeoff. The pilot said that he applied brakes, but determined that his speed was going to take him off the end of the runway. The pilot said he avoided obstacles as the airplane passed over 'an approximately 10 feet drop off.' He guided the airplane between a 7 foot tall tree which took off the right wing. Examination of the wreckage revealed no anomalies. According to the 25-degree Flaps Takeoff Ground Roll chart in the Pilot's Operating Handbook; for a 3,600 pound airplane, temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, pressure altitude of 6,800 feet msl, and estimated headwind of 5 knots, the takeoff ground roll was approximately 1,950 feet. Associated conditions included 2,700 rpm, full throttle before brake release, and a paved, level, dry runway. The Flaps Up Takeoff Ground Roll chart for a 3,600 pound airplane and the same conditions, showed the takeoff ground roll to be approximately 2,790 feet.

Probable cause

the pilot's inadequate preflight planning and decision to perform an intersection takeoff, and the improper short field, rolling, intersection takeoff. A factor relating to this accident was the trees.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI00LA013
Event ID
20001212X19924
Case number
CHI00LA013
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: 768a95c0df0f3ba3ffa4dffdcf6f6b66badc554c7f6ee6aacf3f34c94c5a3a42; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:21:56.013Z.