Beechcraft A-36 N55588

Summary

On 28 April 2001 at about 13:30 local time, a Beechcraft A-36 registered N55588 was involved in an accident near Middletown, Rhode Island, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

28 April 2001 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Middletown, Rhode Island, United States

Nearest airport

Newport State Airport (UUU)

Coordinates

41.5236, -71.2831

Aircraft

Beechcraft A-36

Registration

N55588

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Middletown → Frederick

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC01FA109

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After departure, the pilot contacted air traffic control and stated, "I've got a bit of a problem here on takeoff I'm gonna have to go back and close a cowl flap." A witness observed the airplane flying low and slow, about 200 feet above the ground, on a tight downwind leg for the runway. When the airplane turned onto the base leg, it was about 100 feet above the ground, "still flying very slow on the verge of a stall." The airplane then nosed over, "picked up airspeed," and turned sharply to the left at an angle of about 70 degrees. As the airplane passed the extended centerline of the runway, it leveled off and full power was applied to the engine. The airplane then descended, and impacted buckets of rope dip, which was a black waterbased protective coating for rope, and barrels of nautical lines, before coming to rest upright against metal lobster traps located in a field. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the upper left hand side cowling was observed opened and undamaged. Examination of the latching mechanism for the left hand side cowling revealed no damage to the forward latch. The rear latch exhibited damage to one half of the clamshell. Rope dip was observed on the upper half of the left hand cowling cover, the left hand side of the engine crankcase, and on the rearward section of the left hand side bottom cowling. No rope dip was observed on the right hand side engine cowling or crankcase. The pilot had flown with a flight instructor 5 days prior to the accident. During that flight, the flight instructor observed that the left side engine cowl cover "became loose and opened all the way," while the airplane was on the ground. The pilot remarked to the flight instructor that he thought he had secured it. He then shut the engine down, and re-secured the cowl cover. While the airplane was in maintenance the day prior to the accident, the pilot mentioned to a mechanic that he had been having problems with the left engine cowling cover; however, the mechanic did not observe any abnormalities with the cover. The recorded winds about the time of the accident were from 360 degrees at 12 knots, gusting to 21 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.