Saturday, October 22, 2022

Beech V35B Bonanza, N50JM: Accident occurred October 20, 2022 at Nogales International Airport (KOLS), Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Scottsdale, Arizona

Aircraft was on approach went around unable to gain altitude and crash landed. 


Date: 20-OCT-22
Time: 19:58:00Z
Regis#: N50JM
Aircraft Make: BEECH
Aircraft Model: 35B
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: MINOR
Flight Crew: 1 Minor Injuries
Pax: 1 Minor Injuries
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: DESTROYED
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
Operation: 91
City: NOGALES
State: ARIZONA

TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — A small plane crashed during landing and caught fire at the Nogales International Airport.

According to first responders, the pilot and passenger safely got out of the plane with no major injuries.

Rio Rico firefighters and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies responded to the crash a little after 1 p.m., where they say the aircraft became fully engulfed in flames.

Nogales International Airport is located along State Route 82.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

5 comments:

  1. Looking at FlightAware, it appears to have been an unstable approach. He had a lot of forward speed on short final, and was descending rapidly. Wonder if there was a prop strike that contributed to the inability to successfully go around.

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    1. My hunch is the "attempted go around" is a codeword for a gear up and realized it too late and indeed a very bad idea to try to go back up after the blades scrapped the runway.
      Ah this pesky retractable gear that you forget to put down...

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    2. Yes, photo of the runway just after the crash shows the tell-tale gouging of a propeller as the pilot frantically tries to depart after (apparently from evidence) forgetting to lower gear. Happens way too much and probably missed due to the unusual approach.

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  2. No doubt...listen to witness interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3nrWJHgo_M&t=77s

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  3. Viewing the post impact pictures it is apparent that the prop damage was such to bend all three blades aft from about a “foot” from the hub thus very little thrust being produced. Also, take school on what the oxygen bottle will do when it exploded, best to be away from that shrapnel when it burst from fire.

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