What happened
Shortly after departing from a grass/turf airstrip, the pilot noticed that the aircraft was performing irregularly. The pilot suspected these performance issues might be linked to a recent repair involving duct tape, which had been used to cover torn wing skin and reinforce a bent wing rib.
Due to these concerns, the pilot decided to perform an immediate emergency landing. To approach the runway in the opposite direction of the initial takeoff, the pilot executed a right turn of approximately 70 to 80 degrees, followed by a steeply banked left turn to realign with the runway. During this maneuver, witnesses observed that the aircraft remained no more than 100 feet above the ground (AGL). As the aircraft approached the runway, the turn tightened, and the pilot allowed the airspeed to drop below the minimum power-on stalling speed. This resulted in the aircraft stalling and mushing into the terrain.
Findings
Calculations performed after the accident determined that the density altitude at the time of the event was approximately 7,800 feet.