Incident Overview
On the day of the accident, a commercial pilot/owner was participating in an Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles event at a non-towered airport situated in high desert terrain at an elevation of approximately 6,000 feet. Around 1300, after completing eight earlier flights, the pilot boarded three young passengers for another flight.
Weather Conditions
The pilot reported no clouds in the immediate vicinity and calm winds. An automated weather broadcast for an airport about 17 miles to the northeast reported similar conditions. The airport windsock was described as "motionless" as the pilot began the takeoff roll.
Accident Sequence
A few hundred feet down runway 8, while the airplane was still below liftoff speed, the left wing rose, and the airplane weather-vaned nose left about 60 degrees. The airplane exited the left (north) side of the runway, then rotated about 120 degrees nose right before coming to rest.
Damage and Injuries
The right wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot and the three young passengers were uninjured.
Witness Reports
At approximately the same time, a flight instructor flying another airplane on the downwind leg for runway 8 encountered "turbulence" and lost 500 feet of altitude before regaining control by climbing at best angle-of-climb speed. Numerous persons at the airport reported a sudden, strong, and unexpected "wind gust" that swept across the airport, disturbing objects on the ground, including some airplanes. The gust traveled from northwest to southeast, approaching the accident airplane from its left rear quarter. One pilot on the ground noted a "storm brewing" near the mountains, about 6 miles northwest of the airport, at the time of the accident.
Relevant Guidance
Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 00-24 (Thunderstorms) states: "Gust fronts often move far ahead (up to 15 miles) of associated precipitation. The gust front causes a rapid and sometimes drastic change in surface wind ahead of an approaching storm."