Beechcraft 35 B33 N9704Y

Summary

On 23 August 2015 at about 16:51 local time, a Beechcraft 35 B33 registered N9704Y was involved in an accident near El Dorado, Arkansas, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 August 2015 at 16:51

Classification

Accident

Location

El Dorado, Arkansas, United States

Nearest airport

South Arkansas Regional (ELD)

Coordinates

33.2208, -92.8133

Aircraft

Beechcraft 35 B33

Registration

N9704Y

Category

Airplane

Year built

1963

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Florence → Hot Springs

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15FA374

1 person died.

The loss of engine power for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examination of the accident site or based on the available information and the pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane's critical angle-of-attack after the engine power loss, which led to an aerodynamic stall and loss of control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a cross-country flight and had departed about 5.5 hours before the accident. The pilot originally filed a flight plan that covered 689 nautical miles (nm); however, he had to divert because of weather, so he changed his destination airport. When he neared the destination, he was cleared for the RNAV/GPS runway 4 approach and reported that he had the airport in sight. The total distance traveled was 722 nm. A witness stated that the pilot reported that he intended to circle for an approach to runway 31 and that he saw the airplane circling south of the airport. Shortly thereafter, the airplane impacted trees and terrain in an inverted, nose-down attitude, and the airplane's cabin was almost completely consumed by a postimpact fire. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Additionally, the propeller and propeller spinner damage was consistent with no engine rotation during the impact. The airplane was equipped with two fuel tanks, one in each wing, and a fuel selector with positions for selecting the left or right fuel tank with an additional position for turning off the fuel flow. There was no position available for drawing fuel from both tanks simultaneously. The fuel selector valve was not observed, and the determination of which tank was selected could not be determined. Although the departure fuel quantity could not be determined, calculations indicated that, if the airplane had full fuel tanks at the time of departure, it would have had an endurance of about 6.5 hours with an additional 45 minutes reserve fuel capacity at a reduced power setting. It could not be determined how much fuel was onboard the airplane at the time of the impact. A weather system was approaching the airport at the time of the accident, and lightning was recorded in the distance. It is possible that the pilot became distracted during the instrument approach by the approaching weather system and may not have selected the fullest fuel tank for the approach. This could have led to fuel starvation and a loss of engine power while he was maneuvering to land. Because the quantity of fuel before takeoff or the quantity remaining in each fuel tank at the accident site could not be determined, a loss of power due to fuel exhaustion could not be ruled out. Based on the available evidence, the engine lost power for a reason that could not be determined. Subsequently, the pilot likely attempted to extend the airplane's glide to reach the runway and exceeded its critical angle-of-attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.