Air Safety Week: Preliminary Report on North Carolina King Air Fatal Crash

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Preliminary Report on North Carolina King Air Fatal Crash

A Beech King Air (N57WR), which crashed Feb. 1 less than 1,000 feet from the Mount Airy-Surry County (N.C.) airport (MWK), "side stepped" the runway on its initial approach, climbed into the morning fog before descending from the clouds and nose-dived into a neighborhood, killing all six passengers aboard.

Those findings are included in the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on the King Air C90A turtboprop accident that killed Georgia businessmen en route to Virginia for a hunting trip.

According to the NTSB preliminary report, the nine-passenger aircraft was cleared for landing on runway 36. The flight had departed the Polk County (Georgia) Airport at 10:24 a.m., arriving in the Mount Airy area about 50 minutes later.

According to the Safety Board, instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan had been filed for the flight.

According to witness statements, rain, low cloud ceilings, and fog were present in the local area. The pilot was first heard to check in on MWK's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), and announce "final 36, Mount Airy." The airplane was then observed to "break out of the clouds" at approximately 500 feet above ground level, in close proximity to the airport, and then descend "rapidly" for about 200 feet.

It was then observed to "side step" to the left of the runway, and fly parallel to it for its entire length. The airplane then made a "hard" left turn at the end of the runway and climbed into the fog. A few minutes later, it came out of the bottom of the clouds in a nose down attitude, disappeared behind trees east of the airport and then impacted the ground.

After arrival in the local area, the pilot contacted Greensboro Approach and advised the controller that he was level at 4,000 feet above mean sea level (msl) on a northeast-bound track toward MWK. The controller then instructed the pilot to maintain 4,000 feet msl until crossing the EDLIF waypoint, fly the GPS approach to runway 36 at MWK, and switch to the CTAF for the airport.

Radar data obtained from the terminal radar approach control facility at Greensboro contained recorded radar targets for the accident airplane from 1112 until 1128. During the GPS approach to runway 36, the airplane was recorded tracking inbound to the airport. The last radar target on final was recorded at 1125:40, at 2,000 feet msl, approximately 1.25 nautical miles from the runway 36 threshold.

No more radar targets were recorded until 1127:49, when the target representing the airplane reappeared on radar on a left base leg at 2,300 feet msl. It then continued to turn left to about a 020-degree heading, overfly the threshold of runway 36 at 2,300 feet, and continue on a 020-degree heading for another 14 seconds. The last target was recorded to the east of the airport 0.6 nautical miles south of the accident site, at 2,700 feet msl.

Examination of the wreckage on scene revealed no evidence of any pre- impact malfunctions, structural failures, or in-flight fire. The landing gear was in the extended position prior to impact, and the flaps were in the approach position. Both propellers displayed S-bending, and no anomalies were identified with either engine. The rudder trim tab actuator correlated to 1-2 degrees of right rudder trim. The elevator trim actuators were measured and found to be in a position that correlated to 6-7 degrees nose up trim, and the electric pitch trim was off.

A weather observation taken about 13 minutes after the accident, included; calm winds, visibility 2 and 1/2 miles in heavy drizzle, a broken cloud layer at 300 feet, an overcast cloud layer at 600 feet, temperature 1 degree Celsius (C), dew point 0 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 29.90 inches of mercury.

The wreckage was retained by the NTSB for further examination.