Beechcraft 90 N617MM

Summary

On 12 July 2018 at about 10:05 local time, a Beechcraft 90 registered N617MM, operated by Guardian Flight LLC., was involved in an accident near Tolani Lake, Arizona, United States. 3 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

12 July 2018 at 10:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Tolani Lake, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

35.3181, -110.6600

Aircraft

Beechcraft 90

Registration

N617MM

Category

Airplane

Year built

2000

Engines

2

Operator

Guardian Flight LLC.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Flagstaff → Gallup

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

WPR18LA197

Nobody was injured.

An autopilot deviation during climb for undetermined reasons, which resulted in an in-flight upset and loss of airplane control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to adequately monitor flight systems due to a distraction.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane was climbing in instrument meteorological conditions with light rain and with the autopilot engaged. The conditions were smooth with no turbulence and no known icing, although he had engaged all anti-icing systems. The airplane was climbing at 600 ft per minute at an airspeed of 130 kts from 17,000 ft to 19,000 ft. The pilot reported that he was working on an iPad when it stopped functioning. He said he was resetting the iPad when there was a hard control input to the left as the airplane was passing through about 17,500 ft. The airplane rolled left and pitched down as he attempted to regain control. The pilot reported the autopilot was fighting his control inputs during the event, and he disengaged it to affect the recovery. Onboard data equipment showed a steady increase in airplane pitch attitude and a steady decrease in airspeed before the upset. The airplane spiraled down, losing about 4,000 ft of altitude before the pilot regained control. The pilot manually flew the airplane to its destination and landed safely. The wings were substantially damaged. Postaccident examination of the autopilot revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The autopilot computer was removed and examined with no anomalies noted. Thus, the reason for the autopilot deviation could not be determined. It is likely that the pilot was distracted with resetting the iPad and thus did not adequately monitor the autopilot, which led to his delayed awareness of the autopilot deviation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.