1973 Piper J3C HB-OCF accident at Hasenstrick airfield

Overview and flight details On Saturday, 21 July 1973, a Piper J3C with registration HB-OCF was being flown by a pilot with a passenger aboard from Triengen via Wangen-Lachen to the Hasenstrick airfield. After a stop of about one and three-quarter hours, the pilot took off at 16:50 local time from runway 11 at Hasenstrick. ## Accident sequence Shortly after full power was applied, the aircraft departed the runway centerline to the right. It first rolled over softened ground, then entered tall grass, and finally became airborne in a non-flightworthy condition. After a short flight of about 180 m, the aircraft struck a wooden utility pole at roughly 4 m height, the right wingtip was torn off, and it crashed about 50 m later. The pilot was killed and the passenger was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed, and minor third-party damage occurred. ## Probable cause and contributing factors The investigation concluded that the accident resulted from the aircraft breaking out during takeoff and the pilot failing to abort the takeoff in time, leading to a collision with an obstacle. Contributing factors may have included impairment of the pilot’s flight fitness due to alcohol and/or health problems. ## Aircraft and operational context The aircraft was a Piper J3C, a single-engine, two-seat shoulder-wing trainer with fixed tailwheel landing gear, built in 1944 and powered by a 100 hp Rolls-Royce O-200A engine. It was privately owned and registered in Switzerland. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was 38 kg over its maximum allowable weight, with the center of gravity approximately within the allowable range. The pilot’s private pilot license had expired in October 1972, and he did not hold a landing permit for Hasenstrick, although he had landed there previously. The passenger was a pilot-in-training who had been asked to record flight times rather than assist in flying.