20th of July 2016

With just a pilot and one passenger onboard a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air was operating a private flight from Rock Hill Airport (South Carolina, USA) to Burnsville-Mountain Air Airport (North Carolina, USA).

The damaged wing (Source Aviation-safety.net © NTSB)

After an uneventful flight the aircraft was approaching its destination in good weather;

• Wind - 150º at 4 knots

• Visibility - 10 miles

• Temperature - 28ºC

• Dewpoint - 18ºC

• Clouds - Scattered 3800 ft

The aircraft was approaching runway 32 after an uneventful flight, a 2900 feet long and 50 feet asphalt runway with a bush along the runway. The span for a Super King Air is 54.5 feet (As stated by the NTSB).

To correct for the left crosswind component, the approach was flown with a left-wing down attitude. The aircraft touched down one to two feet right of the runway centerline. As the pilot was steering the aircraft back to the runway centreline, the right wing collided with a bush off the right-hand side of the runway, This caused substantial damage to the wing and the right aileron.

The aircraft in better days (Source; Public domain © Unknown) The collision was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). As part of their investigation, the pilot was interviewed. During this interview, the pilot indicated there was nothing mechanically wrong with the airplane that caused the collision and that he had flown into the same airstrip between 30 and 50 times. Following the accident, the bush was removed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: A collision with a bush during landing. The NTSB final report is available by clicking here. After the aircraft was repaired it was returned to service.