Preliminary Report: Missed GPS approach fatal for six

Hawker Beechcraft King Air C90A, Mount Airy, N.C., Feb. 1, 2008–Six people were killed when the King Air crashed on a missed GPS approach at Mount Airy/Surry County Airport in IMC. The airplane was seen to break out of the clouds at about 500 feet, then descend “rapidly” for about 200 feet. It then “sidestepped” to the left of the runway and flew parallel to the runway, making a “hard” left turn at the end of the runway, climbing into the “fog.” A few minutes later, it came out of the clouds nose down, disappeared behind trees and crashed 45 degrees nose-down. Witnesses reported rain, low ceilings and fog.