Mastery Flight Training, Inc.  Beech Weekly Accident Update archives

 

July 2004 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 2004 Mastery Flight Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

 

7/1/04 Report

 

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

 

6/24 1600Z (1100 local):  During a “simulated engine out landing” at Camdenton, Missouri, a Be35 “landed hard” and the “nose wheel (fork) bent.”  Pilot and instructor were not hurt and damage is “minor.”  Weather: “clear and 10” with a seven-knot wind.  N7273B is a 1958 J35 registered since 2001 to a co-ownership in Wichita, Kansas.

 

(“Hard landing”; “Dual instruction”—given the location and the flight being conducted, might the airplane may have recently been sold to a new owner?)

 

6/25 (time not reported):  One died when a Be36 “crashed into a hillside under unknown circumstances” and the airplane “was destroyed by fire,” near Hurricane, Alaska.  Weather was “not reported.”  N7673N was a 1968 Model 36 registered since 1993 to a co-ownership in San Diego, California.

 

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

 

6/25 1000Z (0500 local):  During an predawn, solo “training” flight, a Be19 “veered off the runway” on landing at Odessa, Texas.  The pilot reports no injury and damage is “minor.”  Weather was “not reported.”  N4353W is a 1974 B19 Sport registered since 2002 to a corporation in Midland, Texas.

 

(“Loss of directional control on landing”; “Night”)

 

6/25 1530Z (1030 local):  A Be35’s landing gear collapsed on landing at Sulphur, Oklahoma.  The solo pilot was not hurt and damage is “minor.”  Weather was 10,000 broken, visibility 10, with a five-knot wind.  N392S is a 1968V35A recently (March 2004) registered to an air service in Amistad, New Mexico.

 

(“Gear collapse on landing”; “Recent registration”)

 

6/26 1730Z (1330 local): A Be23 “rolled off the end of the runway” at the completion of a “pleasure” flight at Saginaw, Michigan.  The pilot and three passengers report no injury despite “substantial” damage.  Weather: 4900 scattered, 6500 scattered, visibility 10 miles, with winds at seven gusting to 14 knots.  N2334Z is a 1962 Model 23 registered since 1996 to a flying club in Saginaw.

 

(“Landed long”; “Substantial damage”—the gusty wind may have been a factor)

 

6/27 1230Z (0730 local):  A Be35 landed gear up at Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi.  The solo pilot was not hurt and airplane damage was “unknown.”  Weather: calm winds, “few clouds” at 1600 feet, and 10 miles visibility.  N2167L is a 1976 V35B registered since January 2003 to an individual in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

 

(“Gear up landing”)

 

6/30 0435Z (0035 local):  During a midnight “training” flight, a Be76 “struck an animal on landing” at Daytona Beach, Florida.  The student, instructor and observer were not hurt.  The Duchess has “minor” damage.  Weather was clear, visibility seven, with calm winds.  N5236M is a 1978 Model 76 registered since 2002 to a flying school in Daytona Beach.

 

(“Impact with animal on runway during landing”; “Night”; “Dual instruction”)

 

 

 

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

 

 **6/14 fatal crash of a turboprop-conversion, air cargo Twin Beech 10 miles east of Kodiak, Alaska.  After holding east of the airport for 45 minutes for weather to improve to ILS minimums at Kodiak, the pilot accepted vectors for the ILS Runway 25 and was successfully handed off to the tower, only to be seen “flying very low over the water, flying on an easterly heading” before impacting 125-foot tall trees while on a heading of 060 degrees.  See   http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20040623X00853&key=1  ** 

 

 

7/8/04 Report

 

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

 

7/1 1902Z (1502 local):  Departing Morgantown, West Virginia into clear skies with light winds, a Be35 “crashed after departure for unknown reasons, into a wooded area one mile south of Runway 18.”   The solo pilot suffered “minor” injuries while aircraft damage is “substantial.”  N4345E does not appear in the FAA database.

 

(“Takeoff/unknown”; “Substantial damage”)

 

7/3 1150Z (0750 local):  The pilot of a Be36 departing the Southern Pines airport at Pinehurst, North Carolina, was on the “take off roll on Runway 32” when he “realized he would not get off the ground.  (The) pilot (then) retracted the landing gear as (the) aircraft left (the runway).”  The Bonanza “settled on (the) dirt and bent the prop.”  The pilot and two passengers report no injury; damage is “unknown.”  Weather at KSOP was 100 overcast, visibility ¾ miles with calm winds and a 21C temperature and dew point.  N3213D is/was a 1998 A36 registered since January 2003 to a Wilmington, Delaware corporation.

 

(“Impact with obstacle/aborted takeoff”; “IMC”—Southern Pines’ main runway is NOTAM’d closed for resurfacing for the summer, leaving Runway 14/32, a 2000-foot turf runway with trees at both ends according to AOPA.  Field elevation is low [461 ft MSL) but the temperature was fairly warm.  A late-model A36 with three aboard was likely very near the airplane’s 3650-pound maximum takeoff weight [late-model Bonanzas are heavy]; in these conditions the POH calls for a roughly 1300 foot ground roll and an 2100 foot obstacle clearance distance using the “short field takeoff” technique and zero flaps, or 1000 foot ground roll and 2000 foot obstacle clearing distance using APPROACH flaps.  These figures are for level, paved surfaces.  Apply the Cessna-standard 9% degradation for takeoff on grass surfaces and this was a tight takeoff situation.  )

 

7/2 2215Z (1715 local):  En route from Mason City, Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a Be36 “experienced engine failure” near Algona, Iowa.  The pilot “attempted to land on a county road,” maneuvered to “avoid a car” and “clipped power lines” before landing gear up on the road.  The pilot and three passengers were spared injury despite “substantial” aircraft damage.  Weather in the area was 2800 scattered, 6500 broken, 7500 overcast, visibility three miles in rain, with a four-knot surface wind.  N3248T is a 1995 A36 registered since April 2003 to a corporation based in Sioux Falls.

 

(“Engine failure in flight”; “Substantial damage”)

 

7/5 1535Z (1035 local):  A Be35, “while taxiing, the gear actuated into the up position” at Winnsboro, Louisiana.  The sol pilot was not injured and damage is “minor.”  Weather: VMC.  N5698K is a 1964 S35 registered since 2001 to an individual in Waskom, Texas.

 

(“Gear collapse—taxi”)

 

 

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

 

**There are no newly posted piston Beechcraft NTSB reports this week**

 

 

7/15/04 Report

 

FROM UNOFFICIAL SOURCES

 

7/13 (time not reported):  Press accounts and eyewitness reports from members of an “air safari” report a Be58 owned and flown by a Brisbane, Australia couple landed gear up at the Kamamuga Airport, Mt. Hagen, Papua New Guinea.  The two escaped but the Baron was completely destroyed by fire.  Weather appears in the photographs at http://www.postcourier.com.pg/ appears to be VMC.  The news report states the pilot was “forced to attempt a belly landing when the landing gear (wheels) failed to come down.”

 

(“Gear up landing”; “Aircraft destroyed”) 

 

 

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

 

6/20 1040Z (1140 local):  A Be24 suffered “substantial” damage, though its solo pilot was not injured, in a “hard landing” at the Mosbach-Lahrbach Airport in Baden-Wunttemberg, Germany.  Weather conditions were not reported. 

 

(“Hard landing”)

 

7/1 1350Z (0850 local):  A Be55 landed gear up at West Houston Airport, Houston, Texas.  The solo pilot was not hurt; damage was “minor.”  Weather: “not available.”  N977AG is a 1966 C55 recently (March 2004) registered to a partnership in Stafford, Texas.

 

(“Gear up landing”; “Recent registration”)

 

7/9 1800Z (1300 local):  A Be35 with four aboard was en route from Akeny, Iowa to Chetek, Wisconsin, when its pilot “reported a complete loss of oil pressure, then smoke.”  ATC provided vectors to a nearby airport “but the pilot elected to make an emergency landing in a field” near Austin, Minnesota.  All four aboard suffered “minor” injuries in the touchdown, which caused “substantial” aircraft damage.  Weather conditions for the IFR flight are “unknown.”  N80HL is a 1961 N35 registered since 2002 to a corporation in Belden, Mississippi.

 

(“Engine failure in flight—catastrophic oil loss”; “Substantial damage”)

 

7/11 1623Z (1223 local):  During a “banner tow” flight, a Be95 “crashed into the water for unknown reasons” while “on final approach” to Atlantic City, New Jersey.  The pilot and one passenger perished in the crash, while a third passenger has “serious” injuries.  The aircraft was “destroyed.”  Weather for the flight, which originated at Pittstown, New Jersey, was “few clouds” at 5500, visibility 10 with a variable, four-knot surface wind.  N7090N was a 1968 E95 registered since 1996 to an individual in Bloomsbury, New Jersey.

 

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

 

7/13 1950Z (1450 local):  A Be35 “experienced an inflight emergency” of “unknown” description “and diverted to Fort Stockton-Pecos County Airport (Texas) and made a wheels up landing.”   The two aboard report no injury although aircraft damage is “substantial.”  Weather at KFST was “few” clouds at 6500 feet, 8500 scattered, with calm winds and thunderstorms.  N96227 is on the FAA registration database as a Civil Air Patrol C172, and therefore may be incorrect.

 

(“Gear up landing”; “Substantial damage”—was the diversion weather- or systems-related?  Was this an alternator/generator failure, often a factor in landing gear-related mishaps?)

 

 

 

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

 

**6/20 Be24 hard landing in Baden-Wunttemberg, Germany, cited above.  http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief2.asp?ev_id=20040712X00948&ntsbno=NYC04WA149&akey=1 **

 

**7/1 Be35 crash just after takeoff at Morgantown, West Virginia.  Change “Takeoff/Unknown” to “Fuel starvation.”  http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20040712X00947&key=1 **

 

 

7/22/04 Report

 

UPDATE

 

Re: “7/11 1623Z (1223 local):  During a ‘banner tow’ flight, a Be95 ‘crashed into the water for unknown reasons’ while ‘on final approach’ to Atlantic City, New Jersey.  The pilot and one passenger perished in the crash, while a third passenger has ‘serious’ injuries.  The aircraft was ‘destroyed….’” 

 

(Two readers both confirm that the Travel Air was not engaged in banner towing operations as reported by the FAA [and treated with skepticism in last week’s Weekly Accident Update].  They also independently confirm that only two were aboard the aircraft, man and wife, and that both died.  Local press accounts report the airplane was in a “flat spin” prior to impact, and one of the readers reliably reports that the pilot reported engine trouble on UNICOM and crashed while attempting a single-engine go-around.  Change “Landing/Unknown” to “Stall/Spin—attempted single-engine go-around”.)

 

 

NEW REPORTS THIS WEEK

 

7/14 1400Z (0900 local): A pilot died, and three passengers suffered “serious” injuries, when a Be23 was “destroyed by fire” after colliding with wires on takeoff from at Morrilton, Arkansas.  Weather was “clear and 10” with a variable, four-knot wind.  The pilot was taking off uphill from the 2000-foot runway in tall grass with a full passenger load, according to the NTSB.  Ambient temperature was 28C.  N48DB was a 1970 C23 recently (December 2003) registered to a co-ownership in Cleveland, Arkansas.

 

(“Impact with object during takeoff”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”; “Recent registration”).

 

7/16 1433Z (1033 local):  A Be45, en route from McMinnville, Tennessee to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, “collided with trees during an emergency landing following an in-flight separation of the propeller in the vicinity of LaGrange, Georgia.”  The two aboard have “minor” injuries, the Mentor “substantial” damage.  “While in cruise flight at 7,500 feet…the engine began to vibrate severely. The pilot obtained nearest airport information from air traffic controllers and his GPS. As the flight continued… the vibration continued and the airplane could not maintain altitude. The pilot searched for a landing area and saw only a lake and areas of pine trees, and engine oil was visible on the right side of the canopy. The pilot stated that, as he aligned the airplane for an emergency landing, the engine vibration stopped, and engine oil covered the canopy. The pilot stated the engine was running smoothly, but the propeller was no longer attached, and he shut down the engine. The pilot executed a landing into an area of small pine trees, exited the airplane with the passenger, and called the local 911 operator from his cell phone.”  Weather in the area was VMC.  N134BH is a 1956 A45 registered since 1995 to a co-ownership in McMinnville.

 

(“Engine failure in flight—propeller separation”; “Substantial damage”)

 

7/17 0830Z (0130 local):  A Be58 “departed Bishop (California) en route to Visalia (California) and became subject of an ALNOT.  The wreckage was located 20 miles west of Bishop at (the) 12,000 foot level on a steep glacier.”  Three occupants of the Baron died and the aircraft was “destroyed.”  Weather at the time of disappearance is “unknown.”  N807Q was a 1977 Model 58 registered since 2002 to a co-ownership in Visalia, California.

 

(“Crash/Unknown”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”; “Night”—this may be a Controlled Flight into Terrain or something entirely different.  Hopefully the NTSB will clear this up).

 

7/17 1930Z (1530 local):  A Be33 landed gear up at Brunswick, Georgia.  The solo pilot was not hurt and damage was “minor.”  Weather: “few clouds” at 3400, visibility 10 miles with an eight knot wind.  N6675L is a 1979 F33A registered since 1980 to an individual in Athens, Georgia.

 

(“Gear up”)

 

7/18 2109Z (1709 local):  Four aboard a Be36 died after the pilot was “advised of weather” by Jacksonville Center.  The pilot replied “he had a Stormscope” but “moments later radar (contact) and communications were lost.”  The Bonanza was “destroyed” as it broke up in flight near Sylvester, Georgia in weather reported as visibility 1 ¼ miles in rain and thundershowers.  N1525M was a 1987 B36TC registered since April 2003 to a corporation in Vincennes, Indiana.

 

(“Loss of control in flight--thunderstorm penetration”; “Fatal”; “Aircraft destroyed”; “IMC”—most likely scenario given the report is that turbulence or pilot disorientation drove the airplane into a spiral from which it did not recover.  Remember that lightning detection equipment [sperics] are reactive, indicating location of lightning strikes that result from electrical discharges where the turbulence has already taken place.  As such they are good strategic but inaccurate tactical devices, i.e., they allow the pilot to determine that turbulence is likely in a general area but do not provide enough information to pick a specific route to avoid the turbulence.)

 

7/19 1121Z (0721 local):  A Be58 landed gear up at Valdosta, Georgia.  Three aboard the Baron escaped injury while damage was “minor.”  Weather at KVLD was 12,000 scattered, 25,000 broken, visibility five miles in mist and calm winds.  N15X is a 1979 58P registered since 2002 to a corporation in Valdosta.

 

(“Gear up landing”)

 

7/19 2300Z (1600 local):  A Be24 was cleared to land on Runway 13L at Seattle, Washington’s Boeing Field when it “appeared to have radio failure on final.”  Tower controllers “tried to advise the pilot of no (landing) gear,” but were unsuccessful and the Sierra landed gear up.  The solo pilot, on a local flight, was not hurt; damage is “minor.”  Weather at KBFI was “few clouds” at 6000 feet, 8500 broken 30,000 broken, visibility 10 miles with surface winds from 210 degrees at 10 knots.  N6339X is a 1982 C24R registered since 1997 to a corporation in Roy, Washington.

 

(“Gear up landing—total electrical failure, did not perform manual extension”—another in the correlation of electrical troubles and landing gear-related mishaps)

 

 

 

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

 

**6/26 Beech 23 landing mishap at Saginaw, Michigan.  Change “Landed long” to “Loss of directional control on landing”.  http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040716X00995&key=1 **

 

**6/27 V35B gear up landing at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  The pilot reports all the proper indications of gear extension but it seems such was not the case.  The pilot *may* have inadvertently retracted the landing gear in the process of performing a GUMP check on final approach (I’ve seen it done in the simulator more than once).  http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040709X00935&key=1 **

 

**7/2 A36 engine fire in flight near Algona, Iowa http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040715X00986&key=1 **

 

**7/9 N35 engine failure and off airport landing at Austin, Minnesota.  http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040715X00982&key=1 **

 

**7/14 Fatal C23 collision with wires on takeoff at Morrilton, Arkansas, cited above.

http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040721X01017&key=1 **

 

**7/16 T-34 propeller separation in flight near LaGrange, Georgia, cited above.

http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040719X01005&key=1 **

 

 

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