CHI82FA228 · Piper PA-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20
Air Aurora Piper PA-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From 12 · Washington, IL to Sugar Grove, IL
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI82FA228
- 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-28RT-201 PA-28RT-20
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N2124U
- Operator
- Air Aurora
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 12 · Washington, ILTo Sugar Grove, IL
- 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
- 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 › All available runway, not used
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Washington, IL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING TAKEOFF, THE AIRCRAFT STRUCK A PILE OF LUMBER THAT WAS 62 FT FROM THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. TWO WITNESSES BELIEVED THAT THE PILOT DID NOT USE ALL OFF THE RUNWAY FOR TAKEOFF. ONE WITNESS ESTIMATED THAT THE PILOT BEGAN THE TAKEOFF ABOUT 150 FT FROM THE APPROACH END. THE PILOT STATED DURING TAKEOFF, HE USED 10 DEGREES OF FLAPS; THE FLIGHT MANUAL RECOMMENDED USING 25 DEGREES FOR A SHORT FIELD TAKEOFF. HE STATED THAT AFTER LIFT-OFF, HE FELT A GUST OF AIR ROCK THE AIRCRAFT AND IT DROPPED. WHEN HE RECOVERED, THE PLANE WAS HEADED TOWARD A BUILDING TO THE RIGHT OF THE RUNWAY CENTERLINE. HE TURNED RIGHT TO AVOID THE BUILDING AND SAID THAT HE HIT SOMETHING. THE MAIN WRECKAGE CAME TO REST ABOUT 165 FT AND 159 DEGREES FROM THE INITIAL IMPACT POINT WITH THE LUMBER. THE TEMPERATURE AND AIRPORT ELEVATION WERE 70 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT AND 773 FT. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT OR ENGINE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI82FA228
- Event ID
- 20020917X03073
- Case number
- CHI82FA228
- 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: 129d03f3c253a1ab02f962a7007655cbad796c39edbfde24712c5413e1a6b295; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:12:04.396Z.