GRUMMAN AMERICAN AVN. CORP. AA-1B

Full Narrative

After flying for about 40 minutes without incident, the pilot returned to the departure airport to practice touch-and-go landings and takeoffs. The pilot stated that she landed on the 3,900-foot-long runway, as she normally did for a full-stop landing. She retracted the flaps, adjusted the trim, and advanced the throttle. As the airplane lifted off the ground, she became concerned that it was too far down the runway, and too low above the ground, to clear trees that were located beyond the departure end of the runway. She elected to abort the takeoff, and was not able to stop the airplane on the remaining runway. The airplane departed the end of the runway, rolled through grass, down an embankment, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to its empennage. The pilot reported that she did not experience any mechanical malfunctions or failures during the accident. She further stated in retrospect, that she may taken too much time to transition the airplane for takeoff after landing, and also felt that if she had committed to the takeoff, the airplane would have adequately cleared the trees.