| Crash location | 48.457500°N, 113.990277°W |
| Nearest city | West Glacier, MT
48.499967°N, 113.978729°W 3.0 miles away |
| Tail number | N3477C |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 21 May 2006 |
| Aircraft type | Cessna 170B |
| Additional details: | None |
On May 21, 2006, at approximately 1030 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 170B, N3477C, was substantially damaged during a runway overrun following an aborted takeoff from a private airstrip near West Glacier, Montana. The private pilot and his two passengers were not injured. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal, local flight which was originating at the time of the accident. A flight plan had not been filed.
The pilot said that he applied full throttle, and after a few seconds of acceleration decided that he had insufficient runway and airspeed for a safe departure. He aborted the takeoff, departed the end of the runway, and impacted a fence and vegetation. The left elevator and horizontal stabilizer were bent, and the tail wheel main leaf spring was broken.
The pilot had recently purchased the airplane, and had approximately 10 hours of flight experience in it. All his tail wheel flight experience was in this airplane; he had a total of approximately 113 hours flight experience.
The pilot's failure to attain sufficient airspeed for flight, his attempt to abort the takeoff, and the airplane's subsequent departure off the end of the runway. Contributing factors were the impacted fence and vegetation, and his total lack of experience in type of operation.