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King Air 350 Accident Proved to Be Fatal Misstep

A fatal 2019 King Air 350 accident near Dallas exhibited all the signs of a random pilot error.

A fatal King Air 350 accident in 2019 near Dallas exhibited all the signs of a random pilot error. [Glenn Watson]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • A Beechcraft King Air 350 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 10 aboard, due to the pilot's misapplication of the left rudder pedal in response to a left engine power loss, leading to an extreme yaw, inverted dive, and loss of control.
  • The NTSB found the pilot failed to conduct pre-takeoff checklists and emergency procedures, which may have contributed to the initial engine spooldown (speculated to be a faulty power lever friction setting) and certainly to the mishandling of the emergency.
  • The article critiques the NTSB's "probable cause" as vague, suggesting it aimed to fault the pilot's "not by-the-book" operating style rather than directly address the specific, critical human error of stepping on the wrong rudder pedal.
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On June 30, 2019, a Beechcraft King Air 350 twin turboprop, leaving Addison Airport (KADS) near Dallas on a flight to Florida, crashed into a hangar beside the runway. Either the impact or the ensuing explosion and fire killed all 10 people aboard.

The catastrophe was recorded by a number of surveillance cameras, some located not far from the point of impact. Video showed the airplane airborne, initially drifting left, then yawing left to an extreme sideslip angle before rapidly rolling into an inverted dive. The sequence took just a few seconds. Once the left wing had dropped, the low altitude made recovery impossible.

Peter Garrison

Peter Garrison taught himself to use a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He began contributing to FLYING in 1968, and he continues to share his columns, ""Technicalities"" and ""Aftermath,"" with FLYING readers.

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