Beechcraft 90 King Air

The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post-impact fire when it impacted the terrain about 1/3 mile northeast of the departure end of runway 20 during takeoff. The airplane was cleared for a right turnout after takeoff, but witnesses observed the airplane climb to about 100 feet, veer left, enter a left bank, go inverted, and then impact the terrain in a nose low attitude. The airplane's left and right wings, fuselage, and cockpit were largely consumed by fire. Inspection of the airplane revealed the flaps and landing gear were retracted. There was aileron control continuity from the control yoke to the aileron bellcranks. There was elevator and rudder control cable continuity from the bellcranks at the forward bulkhead to the control surfaces. Inspections of the engines and propellers indicated the right engine and propeller was producing power in the middle to high power range at impact, and the left engine and propeller was producing power in the low to middle range of power at impact. The 60-year old pilot had flown 942 hours in the accident airplane, and was described as a very safety conscious, conservative pilot, who performed very thorough preflights and adhered to all checklists. The 22-year old pilot rated passenger had not received ground or flight instruction in the make and model of the accident airplane. The toxicology reports were negative for all substances tested. There were no remarkable findings in the autopsies.

During an instrument approach, upon descending to the prescribed minimum descent altitude, about 1/2 mile from the missed approach point, the pilot failed to maintain flying airspeed. The airplane stalled, rolled left, and in an uncontrolled descent collided with a commercial building 0.96 nm from the runway's displaced threshold. The accident occurred during the return portion of a round trip flight, while on final approach to the pilot's alternate airport due to a weather-induced diversion. Moderate intensity snow showers and freezing fog existed. During the initial approach, the reported visibility was 1 1/2 miles. About the time the pilot passed the final approach fix, the visibility decreased to 1/2 mile, but the pilot was not informed of the decrease below his 1-mile minimum requirement. The pilot had maintained the recommended 140-knot approach speed in the icing conditions until about 3 1/2 miles from the runway. Thereafter, the airplane's speed gradually decreased until reaching about 75 knots. After the airplane started vibrating, the pilot increased engine power, but his action was not timely enough to avert stalling. Company mechanics maintained the airplane. On previous occasions overheat conditions had occurred wherein the environmental ducting melted and heat was conducted to the adjacent pneumatic tube that provides deice air to the empennage boots. During the accident investigation, the deice tube was found completely melted closed, thus rendering all of the empennage deice boots dysfunctional.