On Jul 17, 6:19*am, Chris Donovan wrote:
the FAA inspector arrived,
without so much as 5 min passed and he prononced "Pilot Error," it was
a horrific crash of a single engine light plane. *How could he make
such a snap decision I wondered... Untill He explained..."four
adults...golf clubs...fulll tanks." *you don't always have to get
eyewitness reports and measure distances and etc., *because there
isn't a light single, (172, Cherokee class) that can leave the
ground...ever...that heavy!!! *

Hmm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172

Empty: 1691 lb
Gross: 2450 lb
Rate of climb: 721 fpm (at gross as these things are)

Useful load: 759 lb.
Fuel: 56 USgal, 212 litres ~= 170 kg, 374 lb

Four adults and golf clubs? Maybe 800 lb?

So It'll be overloaded by about 415 lb, weighing a total of about 2865
instead of 2450, or about 17% overload.

I find it very hard to believe that an aircraft that can climb at 721
fpm at gross weight can not fly at all with a 17% overload!

Use more runway, sure. Climb slower, sure. But not fly? Inconceivable.