Mastery Flight Training, Inc.  Beech Weekly Accident Update archives

January 2006 Reports

Official information from FAA and NTSB sources (unless otherwise noted).  Editorial comments (contained in parentheses), year-to-date summary and closing comments are those of the author.  All information is preliminary and subject to change.  Comments on preliminary topics are meant solely to enhance flying safety.  Please use these reports to help you more accurately evaluate the potential risks when you make your own decisions about how and when to fly.  Please accept my sincere personal condolences if anyone you know was in a mishap. I welcome your comments, suggestions and criticisms.  Fly safe, and have fun!

Copyright 2006 Mastery Flight Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

1/1 2000Z (1500 local):  The pilot and one passenger of a Be55 died, and the status of three additional passengers is “unknown,” after the Baron “crashed while attempting (an IFR) approach” at Dawson, Georgia.  The Baron has “substantial” damage.  The flight was on an IFR clearance from Indianapolis, Indiana to Moultrie, Georgia, when it apparently diverted to Dawson.  Weather for the approach was 100 overcast, visibility 1 ¼ miles with a four-knot surface wind.  N8165W (TE-610) is a 1968 D55 recently (February 2005) registered to an individual in Indianapolis.

(“Approach/unknown”; “Fatal”; “Substantial damage”; “IMC”; “Recent registration”)

1/2 1945Z (1245 local):  A solo pilot died when his/her Be33 “crashed under unknown circumstances” near Heber, Utah, during a VFR flight from Billings, Montana to Spanish Fork, Utah.  The Debonair was “destroyed.”  Weather conditions were “not reported.”  N1254Z (CD-328) is a 1961 A33 registered since 2003 to a co-ownership in Laurel, Montana.

(“Crash/Unknown”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”) 

NEW NTSB PRELIMINARY REPORTS:  All previously reported in the Weekly Accident Update, and subject to update per NTSB findings. 

 **There are no newly posted 2006 NTSB Beech piston reports this week**

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

There are no newly posted piston Beechcraft mishap reports this week.  This is, I believe, only the second time we’ve gone a week without a reported mishap in over five years of the Weekly Accident Update.  Good job, folks.

NEW NTSB PRELIMINARY REPORTS:  All previously reported in the Weekly Accident Update, and subject to update per NTSB findings. 

**1/1 double-fatality D55 crash at Dawson, Georgia.  The Baron apparently stalled during an improvised circling maneuver at low altitude while attempting to land in below-minimums weather, under pressure of imminent fuel exhaustion.  Change “Approach/Unknown” to “Stall during circling maneuver in low IMC.”  The pilot and one passenger died; the three other passengers survived with “serious” injuries.** 

**1/2 fatal A33 crash near Heber City, Utah.  Change “Crash /Unknown” to “Attempted visual flight in IMC—mountainous terrain”; change “Weather not reported” to “IMC” and change “Aircraft destroyed” to “Substantial damage” (although likely the airplane is for all practical purposes “destroyed”).  “The non-instrument rated commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage….The airplane departed Billings, Montana about 0910 with an intended destination of Spanish Fork, Utah. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the departure from Billings, and instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the accident site.”**   

FROM UNOFFICIAL SOURCES

1/15 1600Z (1000 local):  Two aboard died when a Be35 went missing in “bad” weather over mountainous terrain near San Jose in Costa Rica.  The airplane is presumed “destroyed.”  Weather included “rainy and foggy conditions” during “unseasonably rainy and cloudy weather.”  N5985C (D-3410) was a 1952 D35 registered since 1997 to an individual in Des Moines, Iowa.

(“Crash/unknown”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”; “IMC”—Costa Rican press reports:  “Two U.S. citizens aboard a small, single-engine Beech D35 airplane are missing after the aircraft lost radio contact Sunday and never arrived at the airport where it was scheduled to land. Search parties began combing the foothills around the Irazъ Volcano, east of San Jose in the province of Cartago, where the plane is believed to have gone down. A farmer in the area reported hearing a low-flying aircraft and, seconds later, a tremendous crash in the distance on Sunday at approximately 10 a.m.  The pilot…was accompanied by his wife…, 68. Both are residents of Des Moines, in the U.S. state of Iowa.  The airplane, registration number N5985C, was flying from Panama to Nicaragua with 24 other planes as part of a trip through Central America organized by the U.S.-based pilots' association Baja Bush Pilots, which provides information on flights to Mexico and Central America and organizes trips. The tour began Jan. 7 and made stops in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.  Costa Rica is experiencing unseasonably rainy and cloudy weather (see separate story), which has hampered the search efforts. The plane was reported missing Sunday shortly after noon. Search efforts led by the Red Cross began at 2:30 p.m., but had to be called off two hours later because of unfavorable weather.  The search began again yesterday and included 122 people from various organizations including the Red Cross, Public Security Ministry, Firefighters Corps and Civil Aviation, according to Cristian Aasa, Red Cross assistant chief of communications. The search concluded at 4:30 p.m. amid rainy and foggy conditions yesterday "without a positive trace," Aasa told The Tico Times. Searchers will begin again at 5 a.m. tomorrow.”  A newspaper in the pilot and passenger’s home town added: “The group was scheduled to stop overnight Sunday in Costa Rica, but bad weather on the way from Panama City, Panama prompted some of the pilots to land at other airports, relatives said.”  Multiple news sources reported on January 18 that the airplane had been found “very broken up” and confirmed that the two aboard had perished after “reporting inbound VFR to San Jose” when radar and radio contact were lost.)

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

1/5 2300Z (1700 local):  Two died, and a Be55 was “destroyed,” when it flew into terrain during cruise flight near Piedras Negras, State of Merida, in the Republic of Venezuela.  “The wreckage of the airplane was located 3 days after the accident on the side of a mountain at the 13,200 foot level. A post-impact fire consumed most of the airframe.”  Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the VFR flight from Paraguana, with Merida as its intended destination.  YV-1612P (TC-2232) was a 1979 B55 registered to a private individual.

(“Controlled flight into terrain—cruise flight/mountainous terrain”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”)

1/14 0000Z (1900 local):  During a night, VFR flight in “clear” conditions, a Be33 “reported oil pressure problems and made a forced landing in a field” near Millington, Tennessee.  Neither of the two aboard report injury; there is no reported damage.  N550LM (CE-1472) is a 1990 F33A registered since 2003 to a corporation based in Cordova, Tennessee.

(“Engine failure on takeoff—loss of oil pressure”—and apparently a great job of setting it down in the dark)

1/15 1947Z (1347 local):  A Be35’s nose gear collapsed on landing at Birmingham, Alabama.  The two aboard the flight from Destin, Florida were not hurt; aircraft damage is “unknown.”  Weather: “clear and 10” with calm surface winds.  N31JK (D-6322) is a 1960 M35 registered since 2002 to a corporation in Irondale, Alabama.

(“Gear collapse on landing”)

NEW NTSB PRELIMINARY REPORTS:  All previously reported in the Weekly Accident Update, and subject to update per NTSB findings. 

**1/5 double-fatality B55 controlled flight into mountainous terrain at Piedras Negras, Merida, Venezuela, cited above.**

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

1/19 (0930 local):  Two aboard a Be58 perished when the Baron impacted “inverted 3 nautical miles east of the nondirectional beacon (NDB) at MacArthur River Mine, in Australia’s Northern Territory.  The wreckage was located “after the pilot failed to report arrival.”  [note: Australian civil aircraft are required to broadcast their ETA over the common traffic advisory frequency when within range of destination].  “The airplane was destroyed.”  Weather conditions were “not reported.”  VH-MNI (TH-936) was a 1978 Baron 58 registered since early January, 2005 to a corporation based in Parap, NT.

(“Approach/unknown”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”)   

1/21 1630Z (0830 local):  A Be33 “ran off the runway” attempting takeoff from the Truckee-Tahoe Airport, California, in ½-mile visibility and calm winds.  The solo pilot was not hurt and damage is “minor.”  N8231L (CE-1604) is a 1991 F33A registered since 1991 to a corporation in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

(“Runway excursion—low visibility takeoff”; “IMC”)

1/21 1715Z (1215 local):  A Be76 “crashed” on a “landing attempt” at Hinesville, Georgia.  The solo pilot is reportedly unhurt, while the Duchess has “substantial” damage.  Weather: 2100 broken, 3200 broken, 5000 broken, visibility 10 with a 10-knot surface wind.  The flight was IFR but radar service was terminated “4-5” miles north of the airport.  N6697N (ME-272) is a 1979 Duchess registered since 1997 to a corporation in Cumming, Georgia.

(“Landing/Unknown”; “Substantial damage”)

1/21 2130Z (1530 local):  A Be33 landed gear up at Clintonville, Wisconsin.  The solo pilot escaped injury despite “substantial” aircraft damage.  Weather: “clear and 10” with a seven-knot wind.  N472T (CD-295) is a 1961 A33 registered since 1968 to an individual in Shiocton, Wisconsin.

(“Gear up landing”; “Substantial damage”)

1/23 2300Z (1800 local):  A Be35 has “unknown” damage after it “landed at a closed airstrip under unknown circumstances,” at Eglin Air Force Base, Valparaiso, Florida.  The two aboard were not hurt and weather conditions are “not reported.”  N7987M (D-8273) is/was a 1966 V35 registered since 2001 to an individual in Destin, Florida.

(“Landing/Unknown”; “Night”—was the pilot lost?  Was there some sort of impact damage?  Did the airplane glide into the closed field after an engine failure?  Was it a precautionary landing due to weather or an abnormal condition?  Was it an intentional landing that upset the Air Force, who then called the FAA?  Perhaps a future NTSB report will shed light on this incident.)

NEW NTSB PRELIMINARY REPORTS:  All previously reported in the Weekly Accident Update, and subject to update per NTSB findings. 

**1/19 double-fatality Baron crash on approach at MacArthur River, NT Australia, cited above**

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