Beechcraft A36 N985K

Summary

On 2 June 2015 at about 12:00 local time, a Beechcraft A36 registered N985K, operated by BHB of the Sandhills LLC, was involved in an accident near Siler City, North Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 June 2015 at 12:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Siler City, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Siler City Municipal Airport (SCR)

Coordinates

35.6972, -79.5083

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36

Registration

N985K

Category

Airplane

Year built

1981

Operator

BHB of the Sandhills LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pinehurst/Southern Pines → Siler City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15LA231

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack while maneuvering for landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The purpose of the accident flight was to reposition the accident airplane in order to have maintenance performed on its alternator. The accident pilot planned to fly with the airplane's landing gear extended for the duration of the flight and used a handheld radio for communications, presumably because of the intermittent or non-functional state of the alternator. Another pilot, who was flying in his own airplane, accompanied the accident flight, and they arrived in the vicinity of the destination airport about the same time. As the accident pilot maneuvered his airplane to land, the accompanying pilot watched as the accident airplane flew a downwind traffic pattern leg very close to the runway, then entered a "tight" base-to-final turn. The airplane subsequently entered what the accompanying pilot described as an accelerated aerodynamic stall and descended in a nose-down attitude toward the ground. The airplane impacted trees and terrain about 500 ft short of the runway threshold. A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures, with the exception of the alternator, which failed a diagnostic test run.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.