Beechcraft 90 King Air

The twin engine aircraft departed Panama City-Marcos A. Gelabert Airport at 0734LT on a private flight to Contadora Island with five passengers and one pilot on board. Following an uneventful flight, the aircraft landed on wet runway 35. It skidded then veered off runway to the left and came to rest in bushes. All six occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

While flying a non precision approach, the pilot deliberately descended below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) and attempted to execute a circle to land below the published circling minimums instead of executing the published missed approach procedure. During the circle to land, visual contact with the airport environment was lost and engine power was never increased after the airplane had leveled off. The airplane decelerated and entered an aerodynamic stall, followed by an uncontrolled descent which continued until ground impact. Weather at the time consisted of rain, with ceilings ranging from 300 to 600 feet, and visibility remaining relatively constant at 2.5 miles in fog. Review of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) audio revealed that the pilot had displayed some non professional behavior prior to initiating the approach. Also contained on the CVR were comments by the pilot indicating he planned to descend below the MDA prior to acquiring the airport visually, and would have to execute a circling approach. Moments after stating a circling approach would be needed, the pilot received a sink rate aural warning from the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). After several seconds, a series of stall warnings was recorded prior to the airplane impacting terrain. EGPWS data revealed, the airplane had decelerated approximately 75 knots in the last 20 seconds of the flight. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact failures or malfunctions with the airplane or any of its systems. Toxicology testing detected sertraline in the pilot’s kidney and liver. Sertraline is a prescription antidepressant medication used for anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and social phobia. The pilot’s personal medical records indicated that he had been treated previously with two other antidepressant medications for “anxiety and depression” and a history of “impatience” and “compulsiveness.” The records also documented a diagnosis of diabetes without any indication of medications for the condition, and further noted three episodes of kidney stones, most recently experiencing “severe and profound discomfort” from a kidney stone while flying in 2005. None of these conditions or medications had been noted by the pilot on prior applications for an airman medical certificate. It is not clear whether any of the pilot’s medical conditions could account for his behavior or may have contributed to the accident.

The crew departed Cairo-Intl Airport in the morning on a training flight to Port Said. Following four successful touch-and-go manoeuvres, the crew completed a 5th circuit. On approach, the aircraft apparently caught fire (engine explosion?), lost height and crashed in an open field, bursting into flames. Both pilots were killed.

While descending to La Romana Airport following a flight from Caracas, the crew informed ATC about technical problems and ditched the aircraft about 64 km off Saona Island, southeast of La Romana. One passenger was killed while six other occupants were rescued by Porto Rico Coast Guards.

The twin engine aircraft departed Hradec Králové on an exec flight to Kiev with four passengers and one pilot on board. On final approach to Kiev-Zhuliany Airport, the pilot encountered poor visibility (below minimums) and descended too fast and too low. On short final, at a speed of 220 knots, the aircraft impacted ground and crashed in a wasteland located 2,590 metres short of runway 08 and 48 metres to the right of its extended centerline. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all five occupants were killed, among them the CEO of the Czech company Minib that bought the aircraft last 28 November. According to Czech Authorities, the aircraft was to be transferred to the Czech Republic Registry within January 2008. At the time of the accident, the horizontal visibility was 900 metres and the vertical visibility was 100 feet due to low clouds.

The pilot contacted air traffic control, using the wrong call sign, requesting radar flight following. The airplane initially climbed to 13,500 feet, descended to 11,500 feet, climbed to 13,500 feet, and then began a descent until it impacted terrain at 11,900 feet. One minute prior to impact, the pilot asked the air traffic controller about various minimum altitudes for his route of flight. The controller responded with a minimum instrument altitude of 15,000 to 15,300 feet. A review of the handling of the accident flight showed that the controller was aware of the airplane's position, altitude, general route of flight, and its proximity to terrain. No safety alert was issued to the accident flight. Weather depiction charts, infrared satellite imagery, and local weather observations indicate instrument meteorological conditions prevailed along the route of flight, closest to the accident location. The moon had set at 1539 on the day of the accident. The pilot reported a planned flight altitude of 12,500 feet to his dispatcher. No record of a preflight weather briefing was located. An examination of the airplane, engines, and related systems revealed no anomalies.

Prior to departing, the pilot looked at the fuel quantity indicators, and believed that approximately 3 hours of fuel was available for the estimated 1 hour 20 minute flight. Upon reaching the cruise portion of the flight, the pilot realized that an insufficient quantity of fuel remained in order to complete the planned flight, and he elected to divert to a closer airport. While on final approach to the diversionary airport, both engines lost power, and the pilot made a forced landing to a parking lot. When asked about the performance and handling of the airplane during the flight, the pilot stated, "the airplane performed the way it was suppose to when it ran out of fuel."

The emergency medical services (EMS) airplane took off toward the east in dark night visual conditions. The purpose of the Part 135 commercial air ambulance flight was to transport a 15-month-old patient from one hospital to another. Immediately following the takeoff from an airport elevation of 6,814 feet above mean sea level (msl), witnesses observed the airplane initiate a left turn to the north and disappear. Satellite tracking detected the airplane a shortly after departure, when the airplane was flying at an altitude of 6,811 feet msl, an airspeed of 115 knots, and a course of 072 degrees. The airplane impacted terrain at an elevation of 6,860 msl feet shortly thereafter, about 4 miles southeast of the departure airport. The pilot, flight nurse, paramedic, patient, and patient's mother were fatally injured. When the airplane failed to arrive at its destination, authorities initiated a search and the wreckage was located the next morning. Documentation and analysis of the accident site by the NTSB revealed that debris path indicated a heading away from the destination airport. Initial impact with trees occurred at an elevation of 6,860 feet. Fragmented wreckage was strewn for 1,100 feet down a 4.5-degree graded hill on a magnetic heading of 141 degrees. The aircraft's descent angle was computed to be 13 degrees, and the angle of impact was computed to be 8.5 degrees. There was evidence of a post-impact flash fire. Both engine and propeller assemblies were recovered and examined; the assemblies bore signatures consistent with engine power in a mid to high power range. The flaps and landing gear were retracted, indicating that the pilot did not attempt to land the airplane at the time of the accident. Flight control continuity was established, and control cable and push rods breaks exhibited signatures consistent with overload failures. There was no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunction found during examination of the available evidence. The pilot had logged 2,775 total flight hours, of which 23 hours were in the accident airplane. Toxicology testing detected chlorpheniramine (an over-the-counter antihistamine that results in impairment at typical doses) and acetaminophen (an over-the-counter pain reliever and fever reducer often known by the trade name Tylenol and frequently combined with chlorpheniramine). No blood was available for tox testing, so it is not possible to accurately estimate the time of last use, nor determine if the level of impairment that these substances would have incurred during the flight. The airplane was not equipped with either a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, nor were they required by Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR). The impact damage to the aircraft, presence of dark night conditions, experience level of the pilot, and anomalous flight path are consistent with spatial disorientation.

The airport is on a plateau, and the surrounding terrain is lower than the runway. After departing runway 24, the airplane collided with the top conductor of a telephone line an estimated 2,500 feet from the departure end of the runway. The airport elevation was 331 feet msl and the estimated elevation of the line was 245 feet. The debris path was along a magnetic bearing of 270 degrees. Both left and right engines displayed contact signatures to their internal components that were characteristic of the engines producing power at the time of impact. Fire consumed the cabin and cockpit precluding a meaningful examination of instruments and systems. An aviation routine weather report (METAR) issued about 13 minutes before the accident stated that the winds were calm, visibility was 1/4 mile in fog; and skies were 100 feet obscured. An examination of the pilot's logbook indicated that the pilot had a total instrument flight time of 268 hours as of June 21, 2007. In the 90 prior days he had flown 11 hours in actual instrument conditions and logged 20 instrument approaches.