Beechcraft 35 N6129V

Summary

On 24 February 2022 at about 21:56 local time, a Beechcraft 35 registered N6129V was involved in an accident near Hilltown Township, Pennsylvania, 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

24 February 2022 at 21:56

Classification

Accident

Location

Hilltown Township, Pennsylvania, United States

Coordinates

40.3478, -75.2789

Aircraft

Beechcraft 35

Registration

N6129V

Category

Airplane

Year built

1965

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Doylestown → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22FA137

2 people died.

The pilots’ exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack while practicing maneuvers during an instructional flight, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and and a loss of airplane control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and the pilot receiving instruction were conducting a flight in an airplane that the pilot receiving instruction owned, and the purpose of the accident flight was to prepare him for the commercial pilot practical examination. About 30 minutes after takeoff, the airplane was maneuvering at an altitude of about 1,600 ft above ground level. The airplane then entered a left spin and descended toward the ground, impacting a residential street. A witness stated that he heard a singleengine airplane overhead and thought the airplane’s loud engine sound did not match its slow airspeed, which meant to him that the airplane was most likely in a steep climb to practice a stall. The witness looked up again and saw the airplane diving almost straight down and twisting toward the ground. Examination of the wreckage revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions. Review of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data revealed that the airplane’s maneuvers during the final portion of flight were conducted below its flaps-up, idle power stall speed and were twice briefly below the flaps-down stall speed. During the final 30 seconds of flight, the airplane rolled rapidly to the left when engine noise was reduced. The airplane’s rapid left roll and loss of altitude were consistent with an aerodynamic stall. Thus, the pilot who was flying (which could not be determined based on the available evidence) allowed the airplane’s critical angle of attack to be exceeded, resulting in a loss of airplane control. Toxicological testing detected ethanol and metoprolol in the flight instructor’s specimens. The most likely source of the ethanol was postmortem production; therefore, the identified ethanol did not contribute to the circumstances of the accident. Although direct effects from the flight instructor’s use of metoprolol likely did not contribute to the events, the available evidence precluded a determination of whether effects from the flight instructor’s recent heart attack and underlying heart disease contributed to the circumstances of the accident. In addition, if the flight instructor had experienced a medical event during the flight, should have been reasonable able to control the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.