Beechcraft 65-A90 N814SW

Summary

On 16 November 1996 at about 20:00 local time, a Beechcraft 65-A90 registered N814SW was involved in an accident near Orange, Virginia, United States. 11 people were on board and 3 were seriously injured, 8 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 November 1996 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Orange, Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Orange County (W93)

Coordinates

38.2404, -78.1101

Aircraft

Beechcraft 65-A90

Registration

N814SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD97FA023

3 people were seriously injured.

The pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and his failure to complete the pretakeoff checklist which resulted in a takeoff roll with the control lock in place.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was taking off with 10 jumpers onboard. At the rotation speed of 100 knots, he used elevator trim to rotate the airplane, but it did not lift off the runway. He continued moving the trim wheel violently to pitch the nose up, and attempted to pull back on the yoke, but the airplane collided with rising terrain off the end of the runway. A witness did not see any of the flight controls move during the pilot preflight inspection, and during the takeoff roll, he did not observe a nose up rotation of the airplane. The pilot reported that he removed a single pin control lock from the yoke during preflight. The Beech control lock consisted of two pins, two chains, and a U-shaped engine control lock. The pilot walked away from the wreckage after the accident. No control locks were found in the wreckage. However, the control column shaft exhibited distress signatures on the periphery of the hole where the control lock is installed. No other evidence was found of any other form of mechanical jamming, interference, or discontinuity with the flight controls. Investigators were unable to identify any potential source of interference, other than a control lock, that could have simultaneously jammed both pitch and roll control. According to the airplane's manufacturer, about 3 to 6 degree of trim would have been normal for the airplane's takeoff conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.