Beechcraft 95-B55 N3847Q

Summary

On 21 November 2001 at about 17:32 local time, a Beechcraft 95-B55 registered N3847Q was involved in an accident near Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 November 2001 at 17:32

Classification

Accident

Location

Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Falmouth Airpark (5B6)

Coordinates

41.5222, -70.5644

Aircraft

Beechcraft 95-B55

Registration

N3847Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lawrence → Falmouth

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC02FA032

1 person died.

The incapacitation of the pilot for undetermined reasons which resulted in an in-flight collision with water.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After the pilot requested a decent from his cruising altitude, he was instructed to squawk 1200 and switch to the advisory frequency at the destination airport; however, the pilot did not acknowledge the instruction. No further radio transmissions were received from the airplane. Witnesses reported observing the airplane descend to the water in a straight and level attitude, with the engines developing power. The airplane wreckage was located in 11 feet of water, about 5 miles south of destination airport. Review of radar data revealed that the airplane was descending at a rate of about 300 feet per minute, on a heading of about 190 degrees. The average groundspeed of the airplane during the descent was about 163 knots. The airplane was equipped with an autopilot. Examination of the autopilot annunciator panel by the Safety Board Materials laboratory revealed that the autopilot annunciator panel contained 15 indicators, each of which had one 28 Volt 60 milliamp light bulb. The filaments of each light bulb were examined with a binocular microscope with magnifications of up to 30X. Three of the filaments were stretched and deformed: "AP" (autopilot engagement), "FD" (flight director mode), and "HDG" (heading select/preselect mode). The results of the autopsy and toxicological testing on the pilot were unremarkable.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.