History of Flight
On July 27, 2017, about 2030 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172A airplane, N7243T, collided with an airport perimeter fence during takeoff at Enumclaw Airport (WA77), Enumclaw, Washington. The private pilot and the student pilot sustained serious injuries, while another passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane, registered to the student pilot, was substantially damaged. The flight was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight under visual meteorological conditions, and no flight plan had been filed.
According to the student pilot's statement on the NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report, he had no knowledge of the flight and could not recall any details. He reported that the operator of the airplane at the time was the private pilot. The NTSB investigator-in-charge was unable to contact the private pilot, who did not possess a current FAA airman medical certificate; his most recent medical certificate had expired in 1992. The student pilot stated he believed the private pilot was current.
A witness at the airport reported that the airplane was conducting touch-and-go landings. On the last landing, the airplane touched down near the departure end of the runway, attempted to stop, skidding the left main tire. With approximately 40 yards remaining, the pilot added power for a takeoff attempt. The airplane traveled off the end of the runway, through the grass, and collided with the airport perimeter fence.
Wreckage and Impact
The airplane came to rest in a nose-down position, oriented westerly about 400 ft east of the departure end of runway 07. Landing gear tracks were observed throughout the grass at the runway's end. A long skid mark from the left main landing gear tire was visible on the runway. Main and nose landing wheel tracks were visible in the grass until about 20 ft from the fence.
The propeller was separated and located 23 ft southwest of the airplane. One blade was embedded in the ground, while the other was relatively undamaged. The nose gear was broken and pushed up and to the right. The engine was pushed back into the firewall. The aft fuselage was wrinkled and showed compression damage on the right side. The flaps were extended at 40°. The mixture and throttle controls were set at full rich and maximum power. The Hobbs meter displayed 1,041.7 hours, with a tach time of 772.51 hours. Two strands of barbed wire from the fence were wrapped around the airplane, extending from nose to tail and back to the nose, passing between the inboard end of the right elevator control surface and the tail cone.
Leaves and tree debris were spread along the path between the runway and the wreckage. The top rail of the fence was located on the path and was bent. The barbed wire chain-link fence at the east end of the runway was depressed at intervals matching the left, right, and nose wheel lateral spacing, indicating the landing gear contacted the top of the fence and carried the barbed wire as the airplane passed over. About 258 ft of the top rail was missing from the fence.
Examination of the recovered airframe and engine found no evidence of a preexisting mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. Complete examination reports are appended to the accident in the public docket.
Additional Information
In conversation with the student pilot's flight instructor, he indicated that during instructional flights, he and the student pilot did not practice landings, and the student pilot had never executed any landings on his own.