NTSB Factual Report

On January 18, 2003, at 1440 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172, N6312E, was substantially damaged during a forced landing to a field in Chesapeake, Virginia. The airplane had just departed Hampton Roads Executive Airport (PVG), Portsmouth, Virginia. The certificated commercial pilot and the passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight, conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

In a written statement, the pilot wrote that she had spent 1 1/2 hours prior to the flight brushing snow from the airplane's wings. She used a small ladder to move around the wing span, and reported that she cleared the leading edges, but had left the remainder of snow pushed back on the wings so it would fall off during taxi.

The pilot stated that when the airplane reached an altitude of 300 feet, the airplane's stall horn activated. She lowered the nose of the airplane to prevent a stall, but the stall horn continued to sound. The pilot executed a 180-degree turn back toward the runway, but was unable to reach it, and landed hard in a field adjacent to the airport.

A witness, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Designated Pilot Examiner, was sitting inside the airport restaurant with other pilots, when she saw the airplane taxiing through the ramp area. Both of the airplane's wings were nearly covered with 4-inch tall chunks of snow and ice. The witness said that she and the other pilots had commented about the wing contamination, and hoped the airplane was not taxiing to take-off.

A few minutes later, the witness observed the airplane on the take-off roll. Snow was flying off the wings as the airplane picked up speed, but it did not lift off the runway until it was several hundred feet past the intersection of runway 02. The witness reported that the airplane reached about 20 feet when it started sinking; then began to climb again. She felt the airplane was struggling to gain altitude. The airplane climbed approximately 200 hundred more feet as it passed the end of the runway, before it turned left and descended below the tree line.

The witness said that she immediately responded to the accident site. Upon her arrival, she asked the pilot if she knew that the airplane's wings were covered with snow before she had departed. The pilot responded that she had spent about 30 minutes prior to the flight attempting to remove it, and just did something "stupid".

The witness also reported that there was at least a 1/4-inch layer of ice and snow on the wings when she arrived.

Two FAA inspectors examined the airplane on January 21, 2003. According to one of them, the nose wheel had separated from the airplane and the firewall was torn. Both wing tips also sustained damage, and the fuselage was wrinkled.

Runway 28 was a 4,000-foot-long by 70-foot-wide paved runway.

The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument airplane. She was also a certified flight instructor with ratings for airplane single-engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument airplane.

The pilot reported a total of 1,226 hours, of which, 800 were in make and model.

In a written statement, the pilot reported that she, "...failed to adequately remove some snow from the top of the wings." After the accident, the pilot voluntarily sought and received training regarding frost, icing, and snow and its effects on aircraft performance.

Weather at the airport at the time of the accident was reported as calm wind and clear skies.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's failure to adequately remove snow and ice from the airplane's wings prior to takeoff.