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NewsCut
Bob Collins

NTSB: No clue what caused South St. Paul plane crash

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The National Transportation Safety Board didn't waste much time concluding its investigation into how this airplane ended up like this at South St. Paul's Fleming Field a few weeks ago.

The bottom line? In releasing the investigation into the July 12th crash (investigations typically take up to a year), the NTSB said it has no idea why the plane didn't climb after taking off.

According to the pilot, he was departing runway 16 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. After traveling down approximately two-thirds of the 4,002 foot runway, he elected to abort the takeoff after he felt the airplane was not able to climb and continue to accelerate.

During the aborted takeoff, the airplane departed the runway surface and entered the grass overrun area which was covered with wet dew from the morning environmental conditions. The pilot attempted to stop the airplane; however, the airplane skidded and impacted a fence.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right main wing spar and fuselage. The examination of the airplane revealed no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: The airplane's inability to takeoff for reasons that could not be determined because postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no anomalies. The aborted takeoff resulted in a runway overrun and impact with a fence.