On Jul 17, 2:09*am, Bruce Hoult wrote:
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.

721 fpm climb rate at sea level on a standard temperature and pressure
day.
What was the Density Altitude and resulant effect on engine
performance, propellor performance and aerodynamic performance on the
wings.

Did the pilot lean on take off for high density altitude?
4 adults alone can easily top 800# additional weight, and I'd like to
see how 4 adults and 4 golf bags can fit in a C172 or PA28-180.

The effects of exceeding GW and effects of high DA can be logrithmec,
not linear in requireing more HP to climb out of ground effect.

T