M-20 B/C Ranger
Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6; Flight Crew Total 1600; Flight Crew Type 1200
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Object; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff
Aircraft; Human Factors
A 5 knot tailwind takeoff on a slightly damp grass 1800 foot strip. Obstruction clearance is a factor and a slight tailwind is normally not a problem here. But this time; waiting for the airspeed to come alive and it never did. The ground speed seemed normal; but with 2/3 of the runway gone; I decided to abort. Not a common thing to do and being generally rusty; I managed to lock the brakes. Not hard since it was probably actually at takeoff speed. Not sure after that; but it got badly crossed up and slid sideways off the right side of the runway; into soybeans. Locked brakes are usually not a problem on grass; but they were this time. Damage to the main gear; but little else as soybeans are relatively soft. So far this is just a perhaps understandable lack of skill with a difficult maneuver. But it gets worse. With the tailwind component increasing; I was slightly rushed in departure preparations; so the preflight was abbreviated; something I (almost) never do. This time was the time that a wasp had plugged the pitot. The decision to abort the takeoff was reasonable. It should have been performed without damage and skill was lacking; But simple carelessness led to the end result.
M20 pilot reports a lack of airspeed indication during takeoff on a short grass field. The takeoff is rejected with 600 feet remaining and the brakes are locked up; resulting in a runway excursion. A wasp in the pitot tube; was not detected during a rushed preflight which precipitated the chain of events.