Beechcraft F35 N3448B

Summary

On 24 December 2010 at about 20:58 local time, a Beechcraft F35 registered N3448B was involved in an accident near Syracuse, New York, United States. One person was 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

24 December 2010 at 20:58

Classification

Accident

Location

Syracuse, New York, United States

Nearest airport

Syracuse Hancock International (SYR)

Coordinates

43.1067, -76.1036

Aircraft

Beechcraft F35

Registration

N3448B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Syracuse → Syracuse

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA11LA099

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed during landing with airframe structural icing, resulting in an aerodynamic stall and subsequent hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s continued flight into known icing conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was receiving vectors for an instrument approach when the controller advised of reported icing conditions and assigned the pilot an altitude that would keep the flight out of the icing levels; however, the pilot requested and received clearance for an altitude within those reported icing levels. During the approach, the pilot saw a trace of ice accumulating on the windshield and continued the approach to the runway. The pilot stated that, during the landing roll, the airplane’s nose landing gear broke off, and the airplane to skidded off the runway into the snow. Examination of the runway revealed that the skid marks started about 300 feet from the beginning of the runway and led off the runway. The pilot initially stated that the nose landing gear malfunctioned but later stated that the icing possibly caused the airplane to stall. An examination of the airplane wreckage immediately after the accident confirmed that ice had built up on the leading edge of the airplane’s wings. Examination of the nose landing gear revealed that the chrome piston strut section had separated in an aft direction in overload, just below the piston strut housing. There was no evidence of a mechanical malfunction of the nose landing gear. The airplane was not certified for flight in known icing conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.