ERA21FA194 · Beech C23
Beech C23 · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA21FA194
- 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
- 3 · 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
Beech C23
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N6009U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 43 years (built 1978)
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and two passengers were departing from a grass runway. The grass was several inches high and the ground was soft. There were no eyewitnesses to the accident; however, examination of wheel impressions left in the soft soil of the runway revealed that the airplane became airborne about 2,300 ft down the 3,700-ft-long runway and impacted 70- to 80-ft-tall trees about 800 ft past the runway end.
Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. A witness who arrived at the accident site about 30 minutes after the accident, and a nearby weather observation around the time of the accident, indicated that the pilot likely departed with a tailwind. Review of the airplane’s takeoff performance chart indicated that, on a grass runway, the airplane’s predicted ground roll would be about 1,285 ft and about 2,151 ft was required to clear a 50-ft obstacle; however, the chart was based on the runway being dry, the grass short, and no wind. Based on the available information, it is likely that the pilot failed to account for the decreased takeoff performance due to the runway condition and the tailwind, which both would have increased required takeoff distance.
Toxicology testing of specimens from the pilot detected the non-impairing local anesthetic medication lidocaine and the high blood pressure medication valsartan in blood and urine. It is unlikely that the pilot’s medical conditions or medications were factors in the accident. Toxicology testing of specimens from the pilot-rated passenger revealed the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam at 8 ng/mL in heart blood and in liver tissue. The antidepressant sertraline and its metabolite desmethylsertraline were detected in heart blood and liver tissue. The over-the-counter motion sickness medication meclizine was detected in liver. While it is unknown how well these conditions were controlled or if the pilot-rated passenger experienced any impairing side effects, the effects from the use of these medications would not have influenced the outcome of the takeoff, and it is unlikely that his anxiety or depression or the effects from his use of medication contributed to the accident.
Probable cause
The pilot's decision to depart from a soft grass runway with a tailwind, which resulted in an increased takeoff distance and subsequent impact with trees during the initial climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA21FA194
- Event ID
- 20210428102989
- Case number
- ERA21FA194
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates, cause areas. 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: 0e8b0584f4097c5a0c85fd99ae9c8cef6925eca64f4edb708dcc1ec2e9082582; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:27:44.837Z.