Beechcraft S35 N350JL

Summary

On 4 December 2003 at about 16:06 local time, a Beechcraft S35 registered N350JL was involved in an accident near Harrison, Arkansas, 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

4 December 2003 at 16:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Harrison, Arkansas, United States

Nearest airport

Boone County Airport (HRO)

Coordinates

36.2492, -93.1547

Aircraft

Beechcraft S35

Registration

N350JL

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Little Rock → Harrison

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW04FA036

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain the proper airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to follow the published instrument approach procedures, and his failure attain the proper glidepath.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Prior to departure, the 6,000-hour instrument rated private pilot obtained a weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan for 103-nautical mile flight, which he estimated to be a 45 minute flight. The flight was cleared by the ILS RWY 36 approach into his destination airport, which was an uncontrolled airport. While on the approach, the pilot reported on the airport’s Unicom frequency, that he was a "little" high and was going to make a downwind entry for runway 36. A witness first observed the airplane when it was midfield of the runway at an approximate altitude of 300 to 400 feet agl. The airplane then made a left crosswind turn; followed by another left turn and entered a narrow downwind leg for runway 36. While on the downwind leg, the airplane appeared to get "lower and slower than usual." As it crossed over buildings located southwest of the runway, it turned left onto the base leg, and made a steep bank as it turned onto final approach; however, the airplane "overshot" the runway. A second witness observed the airplane traveling north to south approximately 50-60 feet agl when it made a "hard" left turn. The airplane then made a "hard twisting movement" and the nose of the airplane pointed down toward the ground. The airplane came to rest upright in a 15-foot deep drainage ditch on a magnetic heading of 100-degrees, approximately 1/4-mile southeast and about 400 feet east of the extended centerline. There was no post-impact fire. The airplane, which was not equipped with shoulder harnesses, was configured with the landing gear down, the flaps extended to 12 degrees and the speed brakes deployed at the time of the impact. At the time of the accident the weather was reported as overcast skies at 700 feet with visibility at 4 miles. Flight control continuity was established and the examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any anomalies that could have prevented normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.