The airplane settled to the surface in a three-point attitude, and came to rest in the creek bed with a left wing low attitude.
#HELIO COURIER FULL#
The pilot observed a clear area ahead of the airstrip that lead into a creek bed he reduced the power to idle, and held full aft pressure on the control yoke. The main landing gear impacted brush on a small embankment and the airplane began to settle. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg, Kansas from 1954 until. He reported that the airplane became airborne, settled back to the surface, before becoming airborne again. The Helio Courier is a light C/STOL utility aircraft designed in 1949. He elected to continue the takeoff through the low brush at the end of the airstrip in an attempt to gain more airspeed. With about one third of the airstrip remaining, the pilot realized the airplane would not become airborne at the designated go/no-go decision point and that he would be unable to stop in the remaining distance if he rejected the takeoff due to the snow on the airstrip. The pilot began the takeoff sequence and reported that the initial indications were for a normal takeoff through the selected go/no-go decision point. He positioned the airplane for a departure to the north, prior to locking the tail wheel, confirming the flaps and trim were set, and selecting a go/no-go point about 400 feet down the airstrip. The pilot stated that after conducting a pre-takeoff contamination check of the airplane, the flaps were set to 30 degrees, the trim set for takeoff, and the before takeoff checklist was completed. The airplane settled to the surface in a three-point attitude and came to rest in the creek bed, which resulted in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot saw a clear area ahead of the airstrip that led into a creek bed he reduced the power to idle and held full-aft pressure on the control yoke. The main landing gear impacted brush on a small embankment, and the airplane then began to settle. The airplane became airborne, settled back to the ground, and then became airborne again. So, the pilot chose to continue the takeoff through the low brush at the end of the airstrip. With about one-third of the airstrip remaining, he realized that, if he rejected the takeoff, he would be unable to stop the airplane on the remaining airstrip due to the wet snow. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg. He stated that the airplane seemed to accelerate normally but that it failed to become airborne at his established go/no-go decision point (about 400 ft down the airstrip). The Helio Courier is a cantilever highwing light CSTOL utility aircraft designed in 1949. The airline transport pilot was departing from an 800-ft-long remote, unimproved airstrip that had accumulated between 1 and 2 inches of wet snow.