A PA32 pilot uncertain about the passenger door latch position became distracted by his passenger's ...

Attributes
ACN	972610
Time
Date	201109
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Tower
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 8000 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Miss Distance	Vertical 50

Narrative:

After departing with my passenger; I was going through my checks and it dawned on me that the rear latch may not have been closed properly. After gear and flaps up; I asked my passenger what position the safety latch was at. Being a very nervous flyer; she got all excited and was yelling about 'was it safe?' I tried to calm her and turned around to point out where the latch was and it what position it should be. I then told her to make sure it was in the latched position. All this took my eyes away from the windscreen for about 8 to 10 seconds. When I refocused on flying I saw I was very close to a group of trees. I pulled up to remain clear and at that point the tower told me to contact departure control. There was no incident but it reminded me to fly first and worry about the other stuff when I was at a more safe altitude.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA32 Pilot uncertain about the passenger door latch position became distracted by his passenger's excitement about the latch position and descended within 50 FT of trees after takeoff.

Narrative: After departing with my passenger; I was going through my checks and it dawned on me that the rear latch may not have been closed properly. After gear and flaps up; I asked my passenger what position the safety latch was at. Being a very nervous flyer; she got all excited and was yelling about 'Was it safe?' I tried to calm her and turned around to point out where the latch was and it what position it should be. I then told her to make sure it was in the latched position. All this took my eyes away from the windscreen for about 8 to 10 seconds. When I refocused on flying I saw I was very close to a group of trees. I pulled up to remain clear and at that point the tower told me to contact departure control. There was no incident but it reminded me to fly first and worry about the other stuff when I was at a more safe altitude.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A PA32 pilot uncertain about the passenger door latch position became distracted by his passenger's excitement about the latch position and descended within 50 ft of trees after takeoff.