DFW06CA107 · Piper PA-22
Piper PA-22 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Shawnee Regional Airport (SNL) to Tecumseh, OK
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW06CA107
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-22
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-22
- 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
- N945A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Shawnee Regional Airport (SNL), Shawnee, OKTo Tecumseh, OK
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The 238-hour private pilot and three passengers attempted to depart the 1,900-foot private grass airstrip in a vintage 125 horsepower single-engine airplane. The pilot reported that he elected to depart the airstrip in a northerly heading to take advantage of the very light headwind; however, he was aware of the tall trees at the departure end of the runway. During the takeoff roll, the pilot added that he extended the flaps to the first notch as the airplane accelerated through 60 mph. The pilot added that he was able to rotate at 60 mph, and the airplane appeared to initiate a climb. Shortly after takeoff, the airplane appeared to have encountered some "sinking air" and the airplane started to settle into the tall trees located near the departure end of the airstrip. The 1951-vintage fabric covered airplane was not equipped with a stall warning indicator. There was no post-crash fire and the pilot and passengers were able to egress the airplane unassisted. The pilot reported that there were no anomalies with the airplane's flight controls or engine. The pilot further reported that he should have "stepped off" the field length and calculated the density altitude on paper instead of figuring it in his head. The weather observation facility located about seven nautical miles southeast from the site of the accident was reporting calm winds. The field elevation at the airport was approximately 1,073 feet and the density altitude was calculated at 3,122 feet. The estimated weight of the airplane at the time of departure was near its maximum takeoff weight of 1,800 pounds.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the trees. Contributing factors were the pilot's inadequate preflight planning/preparation and the high-density altitude.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW06CA107
- Event ID
- 20060516X00579
- Case number
- DFW06CA107
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2006-04-17.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 03b99dd9091cb60a01c3af0fcd4c2dc2b492f913eb3732c5cd55e46473e52c03; retrieved 2026-09-22T04:59:07.766Z.