Preliminary Reports
Two Killed in Departure Accident, Socata TBM 700, Nov. 26, 2023, Ludington, Michigan
The pilot and only passenger were killed when the single-engine turboprop went down moments after takeoff from Runway 8 of Mason County Airport. The Part 91 personal flight was operating on an IFR clearance to Tri-State Steuben County Airport in Angola, Indiana. Prevailing weather included visibility of three-quarters of a mile in snow beneath a 400-foot overcast layer, with temperature and dew point equal at -1 deg C.
The airport manager helped the pilot and pilot-rated passenger pull the airplane out of a hangar at 09:45. Ten to 15 minutes passed before it began its takeoff roll. He described the takeoff as “unremarkable” except that the left wing dipped after liftoff and the airplane entered the clouds in a left bank. A witness walking her dog half a mile north of the airport recalled seeing an airplane low over the tree line “with the left wing perpendicular to the ground” and hearing a crash after it disappeared behind the trees.
The wreckage was located about one-quarter mile north of the airport, with the debris field oriented on a west-to-east heading. A small crater containing pieces of the left fuel tank and gear door was just west of a 10-foot-tall barbed-wire fence with torn and broken strands. Most of the remaining wreckage was found in the debris field, which measured 75 feet long by 40 feet wide. All five of the composite propeller blades were separated at the hub, but only one was found in the wreckage. The stubs of the propeller blades were “ragged with a broom straw appearance cut at a 45-degree angle and packed with mud.” The airplane’s Garmin G1000 flight displays, “other avionics,” and circuit breaker panel were all consumed by a post-crash fire.
St. Vincent Gulfstream Disappearance Remains Enigmatic, Gulfstream G-1159A III, Dec. 22, 2023, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The supposed discovery of the airplane’s wreckage six days after contact was lost launched new rumors sparked by its disappearance but details of the wreckage had not been confirmed at press time. Information on the flight and its passengers and crew remained mysterious.
Radar contact was lost six minutes after the twin--engine jet departed from the resort island of Canouan on a purported sightseeing flight, leading to suggestions that the crew had deliberately turned off the transponder. No distress calls were received. Press reports varied in their accounts of the number and nationalities of passengers and crew, which had not been officially confirmed as of January 2.
The unlikely use of a lightly-loaded corporate jet with four hours of fuel for a local air tour led to speculation that the airplane was surreptitiously flown to a destination on the mainland, perhaps for use in smuggling operations. A local news report—since deleted—cited Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) “director general Reginald Darius” as having given a press conference about launching an investigation into the supposed accident. However, when contacted by AIN, the ECCAA spokesman said that there is no such person associated with the ECCAA and that no one from the ECCAA had held a press conference about finding the wreckage.
Ten Rescued in Northwest Territories, De Havilland Canada DHC-6, Dec. 27, 2023, Lac De Gras, Northwest Territories, Canada
Search-and-rescue (SAR) personnel overcame heavy blowing snow and winds gusting to 35 knots to parachute to the site of a ski-equipped Twin Otter that struck the ground on approach to Lac De Gras. All 10 on board survived and were transported the following morning to the Diavik diamond mine about 16 km (10 miles) to the northwest. Two were reported to have suffered serious injuries, six had minor injuries, and two were unhurt.
Two pilots and eight passengers were on board the charter flight carrying a crew to a winter road construction site. The accident occurred about 12:45 local time. The occupants sheltered in a tent from the Twin Otter’s survival gear for about eight hours before help arrived.
The RCAF CC-130 Hercules dispatched from Winnipeg with the SAR technicians had to circle for some two hours before conditions moderated enough to allow the parachute jump. Shortly after the techs arrived with food and medical supplies, warm clothing, and better communications gear, a rescue team from the Diavik mine arrived by ground.
From the diamond mine, the survivors were transported to Yellowknife by helicopter. Despite the daunting conditions, they had the benefit of unseasonably warm temperatures for the area: Yellowknife reported -9 deg C (16 deg F) that evening, 13 C warmer than the average for that date.
Final Reports
Spatial Disorientation Implicated in Predawn Helicopter Crash, Airbus Helicopters AS350B3e, Sept. 16, 2021, 15 km northeast of Lawrence, South Island, New Zealand
Based on the helicopter’s flight track as recorded by ADS-B and the fact that it departed in “close to the darkest part of the night,” the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) concluded that the pilot “almost certainly” encountered low clouds over the Lammerlaw Range and “very likely” became disoriented while trying to maneuver around the mountains in an area with very little ground lighting.
The solo pilot perished when the aircraft departed controlled flight in a left spiral dive, striking rolling, gullied terrain in a near-vertical nose-down attitude at “a very high rate of descent.”
The flight took off from the operator’s base near Liston at 05:17, about one hour after moonset and an hour before civil morning twilight, to conduct frost protection operations at a cherry orchard 62 nm to the northwest. The pilot was not equipped with night vision goggles, which he was not qualified to use.
The ADS-B track showed that it followed a straight course until it approached the town of Lawrence, where it made a 90-degree right turn. One minute 23 seconds later it turned left to a track parallel to its original course. Not quite three minutes later it turned right, then left again, descending from 7,150 feet to 3,475 feet in 46 seconds. The final data point was recorded 1,041 feet above the elevation of the accident site.
The SAR crew recruited after the operator’s flight-tracking system stopped receiving updates was initially unable to locate the site due to cloud cover extending down to ground level but spotted the wreckage at 07:43 after the cloud base receded up the hillside.
The 36-year-old commercial pilot had about 4,230 hours of flight experience including 1,200 in the AS350. His night rating was restricted to flights within 25 nm of a lighted airport or heliport. He had 63 hours of night time including 4.2 the previous night, his first night flight in almost a year. His most recent instrument flight was made in simulated conditions in April 2012, leading the TAIC to find it “very unlikely” that he’d retained meaningful proficiency in flight by instrument references.
Unidentified Emergency Precipitated Fatal Departure Stall, Piper PA46-500TP, Feb. 13, 2022, Olathe, Kansas
Just after departing from Runway 36 at Johnson County Executive Airport, the pilot flying the Meridian turboprop single radioed an urgent request to return to the airport and was cleared to land. The airplane drifted right and slowed from its peak groundspeed of 81 knots, corrected back to the left, and crashed about 400 feet past the departure threshold, igniting a fire that consumed the cockpit, both wings, and the cabin back to the forward carry-through spar.
The last three data points of its flight track indicated groundspeeds of 49, 47, and 45 knots. Factoring in the reported 15-knot headwind, the last corresponded to 60 knots airspeed, four below its lowest published stall speed of 64 knots.
No further transmissions were received after the pilot’s request to return, and examination of the wreckage “revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.” Rub marks and damage to internal components indicated that the engine was rotating at the moment of impact, but the amount of power produced could not be determined. The extent of the damage and the brevity of the pilot’s transmission prevented investigators from determining the nature of the emergency.
The flight was intended to return to the pilot’s base at Albuquerque (New Mexico) Sunport following completion of an annual inspection. The 51-year-old private pilot’s most recent medical application listed 354 hours of total flight experience with 66 hours in the preceding six months.
King Air Downed by Fuel Exhaustion, Beech B200, Sept. 8, 2023, Elk Grove Village, Illinois
The pilot’s decision to pass up a possible fuel stop followed by his compliance with a controller’s instruction to go around resulted in a rare instance of complete fuel exhaustion by a Part 135 operator. The solo pilot suffered serious injuries in a forced landing into forested terrain after both engines lost power on final approach.
After delivering passengers to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (KORD), the pilot accepted a flight from Waterloo, Iowa, about 200 nm to the east. However, while on approach, his previous passengers texted that they were ready to be picked up again so he broke off the approach to return to KORD, climbing to 16,000 feet to minimize fuel burn.
He arrived at KORD with “minimum fuel,” and was cleared to land on Runway 9L. Because the previous aircraft was slow to clear the runway, however, the tower controller directed him to go around. He advised first the tower and then approach control of his fuel status and approach “worked diligently to get me a tight visual approach,” but both engines flamed out. He subsequently told investigators that he “tried to do too much with too little fuel” and should have landed rather than going around. ζ