Accident Overview
On August 9, 2009, at approximately 0915 Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-28R-200 (registration N32105) collided with terrain during a rejected takeoff from Soldier Meadows Airport number 1 (NV06), located near Gerlach, Nevada. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 for a cross-country personal flight from Gerlach to Sacramento, California. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
Sequence of Events
The pilot reported that during the takeoff roll, the airplane had not reached 60 miles per hour indicated airspeed when he saw the end of runway markers. He elected to abort the takeoff and shut down the engine. To avoid colliding with a fence approximately 300 feet from the end of the runway, he directed the airplane off the left side of the runway. The airplane entered heavy vegetation, rocks, and rough ground, coming to a stop about 100 feet from the runway surface.
Runway Considerations
The pilot calculated that he needed more than 2,500 feet nominally to complete the takeoff. Given the hard dirt surface, he assumed a 20 percent margin, which he believed left more than 1,000 feet of remaining runway if the length was as charted. The Klamath Falls sectional chart indicated the longest runway length as 4,000 feet.
Wreckage Examination
A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the wreckage and measured track marks in low vegetation leading to the site. The takeoff roll began abeam the windsock, about 300 feet from the beginning of the runway. Tire tracks veered right into grass adjacent to the runway before the midfield point and continued parallel. Approximately 2,790 feet from the windsock, the left track passed within inches of a set of white-painted tires embedded upright in the dirt a few feet off the runway edge, about 1,041 feet from the end of the runway and fence line. The tops of the tires had scuff marks. The tracks then crossed back left across the runway to the wreckage. The inspector measured the maximum runway length as 4,131 feet.