American Falls Airport: American Falls, Idaho

Airport is located 2 miles north east of American Falls, Idaho.

The pilot took off with a tailwind of about five knots, and just after liftoff, the aircraft drifted off to the left of the runway heading. During his attempt to realign the aircraft with the runway heading, the pilot inadvertently allowed the airspeed to become too slow, and the aircraft mushed/stalled into the terrain about 200 yards off the departure end of the runway.
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The pilot reported that it was cold at a cruise altitude of 8,500 feet msl, and he decided to descend to warmer altitudes. He descended to follow a river. He checked his aeronautical chart and "didn't observe any charted power lines crossing on the segment of the river" that he was flying. He descended to "about 100 feet above the river" and followed the river. He saw three wooden poles and a crossbeam located along the edge of the river, did not see wires, but "made the immediate assumption that there were wires." He pulled up and heard a loud bang as the airplane struck the wires. He also saw a blue flash. After determining that the airplane was "able to continue safe flight," he made a decision to proceed to his original destination, where he was able to make a normal landing. The pilot examined the airplane and reported that the pitot mast was torn from the right wing tip, the leading edges of both outer wing panels were damaged, and there were two
puncture holes in the fabric of the left aileron. The pilot stated that "there may have been many contributing factors to this accident but I simply should have had more altitude in order to avoid any possibility of a wire strike."