Beech D55, N1796A, A-S Ranch Inc: Accident occurred July 13, 2017 at Friedman Memorial Airport (KSUN), Hailey, Blaine County, Idaho

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entity: 
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Boise, Idaho

Aviation Accident Preliminary Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

A-S Ranch Inc: http://registry.faa.gov/N1796A

NTSB Identification: WPR17LA154
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, July 13, 2017 in Hailey, ID
Aircraft: BEECH D55, registration: N1796A
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On July 13, 2017, about 2010 mountain daylight time, a Beech D55 twin-engine airplane, N1796A, landed hard and ground looped after touchdown on runway 31 at Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN), Hailey, Idaho. The airplane was registered to A-S Ranch Inc. and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that departed from a Caldwell, Idaho, airport at an unknown time. A flight plan was not filed. 

The pilot reported that the throttles were not mechanically rigged correctly, and were not aligned with each other, but he elected to fly the airplane with this condition. As he approached the airport from the southeast to land on runway 31, he realized that the airplane was too high. He reduced the power to lose altitude, and decided that he could still land safely on the runway. While on approach the airplane drifted to the right of centerline so he added power to go around. However, due to the mis-rigged throttles, he added too much power to the left engine, which increased the drift to the right. The pilot was able to return the airplane to a wings level attitude, but the nose was pitched up too high, and the airplane landed hard. The right-wing tip struck the runway, and the airplane ground looped.