Accident Summary
An accident occurred during a night departure from a grass airstrip. The pilot, who had received a weather briefing and requested an outlook for the following morning, was advised by the briefing specialist to depart that evening. To aid visibility, a flashlight was placed on a fencepost at the midpoint of the runway, and a car was positioned at the departure end of the runway with its lights dimmed, facing the approach end.
Sequence of Events
After rotation, a pilot-rated witness observed the airplane bank to the left. The airplane then pitched up steeply and collided with the tops of trees bordering the left side of the runway. Subsequently, the airplane turned from an almost vertical nose-up attitude to a vertical nose-down attitude to the right and struck the ground.
Postaccident Findings
A postaccident examination of the flight controls revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. Similarly, examination of the engine found no evidence of mechanical failure. However, bench testing of the servo fuel injector showed that the fuel flow was erratic, and the fuel flow in terms of pounds per hour (pph) was 2.0 pph less than specified.
Operational Considerations
The operator prohibited operations into grass airstrips, and the pilot was reportedly previously made aware of this procedure. Additionally, the pilot did not meet the operator's prescribed number of complex takeoffs and landings before rental.