Cessna 441 N441VB

Summary

On 20 August 2008 at about 16:30 local time, a Cessna 441 registered N441VB, operated by Avian LLC, was involved in an accident near Baltimore, Maryland, United States. 4 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 August 2008 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Nearest airport

Baltimore/Washington Thurgood (BWI)

Coordinates

39.1833, -76.6600

Aircraft

Cessna 441

Registration

N441VB

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Avian LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Baltimore → Minneapolis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC08LA291

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's delayed decision to abort the takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's attempted takeoff with a propeller start lock inadvertently engaged.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, the previous flight, as well as the accident event preflight procedures, start-up, and taxi were all normal. However, as the airplane accelerated during the takeoff roll, it moved "slightly to the left" on the runway. The pilot "added power on the left engine," but the airplane continued to the left, and the left wheel departed the left edge of the runway pavement. The pilot then aborted the takeoff, and continued efforts to correct the direction of travel by manipulating the engine power levers. The airplane veered further left, completely departed the paved surface, and struck an earthen mound about 200 feet to the left of the runway’s edge and 2,500 feet from the airplane’s starting point on the 5,000-foot runway. At the time, visual meteorological conditions prevailed with winds variable at 3 knots. The propellers were equipped with start locks which were required by checklists to be disengaged for taxi and flight. Although there were no discrete annunciators to advise start lock status, the airplane information manual provided means to recognize and correct when the start locks were not disengaged. Postaccident examination of the propeller assemblies revealed that the right propeller was properly configured for flight. However, the left propeller start lock mechanism was engaged, which resulted in negative propeller blade angles at the outboard stations and asymmetric thrust during the takeoff roll.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.