Beechcraft 200 N117WM

Summary

On 3 March 1997 at about 02:13 local time, a Beechcraft 200 registered N117WM was involved in an accident near Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. 4 people were on board and one died, 3 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 March 1997 at 02:13

Classification

Accident

Location

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Nearest airport

Salt Lake City Intl (SLC)

Coordinates

40.8102, -111.9392

Aircraft

Beechcraft 200

Registration

N117WM

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Executive/Corporate

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Las Vegas → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

SEA97FA067

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed on the ILS approach, resulting in a stall. Factors included: low visibility; the pilot's selection of the improper DME for the approach; his resulting failure to attain the proper descent profile for the approach; and insufficient altitude available for stall recovery.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight was on a coupled instrument landing system (ILS) approach with 1/2 mile visibility in snow showers. Three successive fixes on the localizer are defined by distance measuring equipment (DME) paired with the ILS; prior to the ILS DME commissioning 6 months before the accident, the DME fixes were defined by a VORTAC 4.7 nautical miles past the ILS DME. The aircraft was 800 feet high at the first fix and 1,500 feet high at the second, but approximately on altitude 4.7 nautical miles past the first and second fixes, respectively. It passed the outer marker 900 feet high and captured the glide slope from above about 1.8 nautical miles from the threshold, 500 feet above decision height (DH) and 700 feet above touchdown. The aircraft was on glide slope for 28 seconds, during which time its speed decayed to stall speed; it then dropped below glide slope and crashed 1.3 nautical miles short of the threshold. The pilot's FLT DIR DME-1/ DME-2 switch, which control the DME display on the pilot's horizontal situation indicator (HSI), was found set to DME-2; the NAV-2 radio was set to the VORTAC frequency. Up to 800 feet may be required for stall recovery.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.