Wednesday, April 07, 2021

Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, N18394: Accident occurred April 06, 2021 near Arcadia Municipal Airport (X06), DeSoto County, Florida

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.

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

Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Tampa, Florida 

394 LLC


Location: Arcadia, FL
Accident Number: ERA21LA174
Date & Time: April 6, 2021, 11:10 Local 
Registration: N18394
Aircraft: Beech A36 
Injuries: 1 Serious
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal

On April 6, 2021, about 1110 eastern daylight time, a Beech A36, N18394, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Arcadia, Florida. The pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

According to the pilot, after takeoff about 800 ft mean sea level (msl), he reduced engine rpm to 2300. Several minutes later he noticed that the engine rpm had risen to 2500 and the oil pressure was zero. The pilot attempted to return to the airport; however, the engine “locked and the propeller stopped turning.” The airplane was at an altitude of 1,700 ft msl and the pilot subsequently performed a forced landing to a field.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration inspector who responded to the accident site, the airplane’s right wing and cowling were substantially damaged.

The airplane and engine were recovered for further examination.

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Beech 
Registration: N18394
Model/Series: A36
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built: No
Operator: On file 
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: VMC
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KPGD,25 ft msl 
Observation Time: 10:53 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 18 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 24°C /12°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear 
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 5 knots / , 150°
Lowest Ceiling: None 
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 30.2 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Departure Point: Venice, FL (KVNC) 
Destination: Arcadia, FL (KXO6)

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 1 Serious 
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A 
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 1 Serious 
Latitude, Longitude: 27.176616,-81.826713 (est)




NOCATEE, Florida — A single-engine airplane crashed in a field off of S.W. County Road 760 in Arcadia around noon Tuesday.

Authorities said the pilot was experience engine problems but was able to land the plane safely.

Both DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and DeSoto County Fire Rescue responded to the call.

Fire Chief Chad Jorgensen said the pilot had flown into the Arcadia Municipal Airport that morning.

After leaving the airport, he started experiencing engine problems.

“He was attempting to make it back to the airport,” Jorgensen said. “He ultimately lost oil pressure and his engine locked up.”

The pilot was airlifted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in stable condition. There were no other passengers in the plane.

County spokesperson Tara Poulton said Federal Aviation Administration representatives are on their way to investigate.




ARCADIA, Florida – A single-engine plane crashed near SW County Road 760 in Arcadia on Tuesday, according to the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office.

The Beechcraft A36 Bonanza crashed around noon in a field four miles southwest of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

The pilot left the Arcadia Municipal Airport and hadn’t been in the air very long when his engine locked up, DeSoto County Public Safety Director Chad Jorgensen said. He was about 1,700 feet from the ground when he knew he needed to find a place to land.

“He did a very good job. His comment to me was ‘I wanted to make sure no one got hurt.’ He didn’t want to hurt anybody when he landed,” Jorgensen said.

The pilot was airlifted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital and is in stable condition.

Even though he was injured, he was still able to help crews on scene shut down the rest of the plane.

“The plane landed without the gear down, so it was damaged to the front and both sides. We were concerned for a fuel leak. And we didn’t have fire hoses with us. We had walked an eighth of a mile to him back through the woods,” he said.

Jorgensen said no animals were injured in the crash either.

“In my humble opinion, he’s a very lucky man,” he said.

DeSoto County Sheriff's Office is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the crash.

7 comments:

  1. Lots of Bonanzas losing power after takeoff lately. Makes you wonder whether something is common in the accidents from recent pandemic "hangar runs" done instead of normal flights. Or pilot's misoperation of fuel boost pumps.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Or pilot's misoperation of fuel boost pumps."

      Post your evidence that supports your comment.

      Delete
    2. Comment about possible misoperation relates to fuel-injected aircraft equipped with two-speed aux fuel pumps.

      Placing fuel aux/boost pump to "Hi" can flood a misfiring engine if the pilot mis-diagnoses the trouble to be from failed engine driven mechanical pump when it actually has not failed.

      Cirrus also had some over-rich mixture incidents related to pilot operation of their two-speed pump design.

      Bonanza incident where high boost selection may have contributed:
      http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2014/09/second-lawsuit-filed-in-fatal-crash.html

      Delete
    3. Cirrus high boost over-rich accident N821SG, NTSB CEN20LA336:

      https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/95566/pdf

      Delete
  2. Could have made Arcadia Municipal. Tough break.

    https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ad1701,a14f81&lat=27.160&lon=-82.004&zoom=11.2&showTrace=2021-04-06

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How? His last data point was @ 450' 4 miles West of the airport.
      https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a14f81,ad1701&lat=27.198&lon=-81.908&zoom=12.8&showTrace=2021-04-06
      The link in your post is the wrong aircraft. It's for a Cessna 150 N9420U

      Delete
    2. Looked again and realized the gap in data at Arcadia led to a mistaken interpretation. Originally missed realizing that the track was not all just one flight leg.

      In both the original and reply Adsbexchange links, ICAO numbers of both aircraft appear. The Bonanza icao=a14f81. The C150 icao is a remnant leftover from a prior lookup due to the new lookup being done without closing the radarmap window and looking up anew.

      The first icao in the link sets which airplane shows up in the box at upper left, while the location and date info in the link controls plotting of track data from any of the icao numbers in the list.

      Thanks for catching the mistakes. Will have the morning coffee before looking at plots and posting next time.

      Delete