Early on June 23 of last year, two men and three teenage boys left Spirit of St. Louis Airport in a Cherokee Lance for some trout fishing at Gaston’s White River Resort, which is located in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The 170 nm flight took an hour and a quarter.
Three days later, on June 26, a Friday, they prepared to return. It was muggy and warm, and there was no wind. The group loaded their baggage and gear into the airplane and took off eastward on the 3,200-foot grass runway. A resort guest videotaped the takeoff. About a third of the way down the runway, the pilot lifted the nosewheel from the grass. The Lance continued to accelerate but did not become airborne until the end of the runway. It briefly settled out of sight into a shallow depression and then reappeared. Its nose was high, its flight was unsteady, and it did not climb.
