On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 07:29:24 -0700, unicate wrote:

If it's the one I think you're thinking of (2nd leg of trip originating
from Half Moon Bay, CA), she was not alone, she was with her father and
a flight instructor, and it was reported (accuracy unknown) that to stay
on schedule for the media there and at the next scheduled location, they
knowingly took off into weather. Was that ever verified?

The girls name was Jessica Dubroff and AVWeb has a synopsis of the
crash that is extremely detailed.

http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/183036-1.html

To synopsise, the FAA observed that the field elevation (over 6000
feet) was likely a factor. The pilot was not familiar with flights
out of fields at that elevation. In addition, he apparently did not
lean for best performance, there was an approaching thunder storm
which had caused visibility to deteriorate putting the field IFR
before he departed. He then filed for "special IFR" to continue the
flight and ammended that to "special VFR" when the tower professed
ignorance of what "special IFR" was. There was wind shear noted by a
Cessna 414 that departed just ahead of the 177. The pilot of the 414
immediately reported it in hopes the pilot of the 177 would hear it
and abort the attempted takeoff. It was raining pretty heavily at the
time of departure although it was observably clear to the east. The
Cessna was overgross by about 50 lbs.

Reaction to the media could have also been a factor (taking off due to
pressure to complete the record attempt in front of everyone).

The pilot had not stopped at the beginning of the runway to check
anything, he rolled on and took off. It turned right relatively soon
after takeoff to avoid the approaching storm and appeared to be
wobbling and flying slowly. The airplane was observed to descend
nearly vertically from a relatively low height and impacted the ground
in a steep nose down attitude.

The mixture control was at full rich, although the FAA said impact
might have shoved the control forward. The Cessna manual states that
leaning is necessary above 3,000 feet for proper engine performance.

With the clear vision of hindsight, a very bad decision to depart at
that point in the day.

Corky Scott