Lake Wenatchee State Airport: Leavenworth, Washington

Airport is located 14 miles north west of Leavenworth.

The airplane gained speed slowly and halfway down the runway lifted off in ground effect. The pilot noted the airspeed was about 50 knots. When the pilot realized that the airplane was not going to clear obstacles at the end of the runway, she aborted the takeoff and decided to land the airplane on the remaining runway. The airplane overran the end of the runway, traveled downhill, struck a pile of wood, nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot had configured the airplane for a short field takeoff with 10 degrees of flaps. The pilot had been to the airport before and had taken summer mountain flying courses. She stated that she over estimated the capabilities of the airplane under the existing altitude, runway conditions, and height of the trees at the end of the runway. The airport elevation was 1,939 feet. The closest weather reporting station indicated that the temperature was 28 degrees Celsius, and the density altitude was calculated to be
3,186 feet.
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While taking off uphill on a short turf runway towards rising terrain, the airplane impacted trees 70 feet in height off the departure end of the runway. The runway surface was turf, in poor condition and rough, and 2,473 feet in length. Trees surrounded the airport and they were in close proximity to the runway's approach and departure ends. According to Cessna Aircraft, the performance charts in the information manual for the airplane show that 2,100 feet was needed to clear a 50-foot obstacle. The pilot said he estimated that he needed 2,000 feet of takeoff distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle. An FAA inspector examined the airplane and noted no mechanical difficulties that would have precluded normal operation.
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While in cruise flight about 1,000 feet above ground level (agl), the pilot heard a loud grinding sound and felt a significant vibration in the airframe of the helicopter. The aircraft then swung to the right, so the pilot elected to reduce the throttle and perform an autorotation to a nearby open field. During the attempted autorotational landing on the soft grassy terrain, the aircraft touched down, bounced back into the air, turned about 300 degrees, and then touched down a second time. During the second touchdown, the aircraft rolled over onto its left side. During the accident sequence, the main rotor blades flexed downward and came in contact with the tail boom. When the pilot inspected the helicopter at the scene, he found that all of its components, except for the tail rotor drive shaft, were there at that one location. Although he searched the local area for the tail rotor drive shaft, he was unable to locate it. The drive shaft was later found by a local resident several hundred feet from the location where the helicopter touched down. After being recovered to a hangar, the aircraft was inspected by an FAA Airworthiness Inspector, who determined that the tail rotor drive shaft had failed in cruise flight at a location near where it attaches to the main rotor transmission assembly. The reason for the failure of the shaft could not be positively determined.