BEECH V35 — Angwin, CA

What happened

The airplane departed with visual meteorological conditions for a daytime cross-country flight. Flight track information showed the airplane descending from 9,000 ft mean sea level (msl) and entering the left downwind leg for runway 16 at the destination airport. The flight track showed a wide left base turn to final that overshot the final approach course. The airplane then reacquired the runway heading and landed.

A video recording device was installed on the accident airplane, which captured the entire flight along with audio. The video showed that although the left-seat pilot was controlling the airplane during most of the cross-country portion of the flight, once the flight neared the destination airport the airplane’s throw-over yoke was moved to the right-seat pilot (the pilot), who then controlled the airplane for the rest of the flight.

The pilot descended the airplane, and it entered the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern for the runway. The left base turn was then rounded to a turn to the final approach leg. The video shows that the airplane had entered a left bank of about 30°, the airspeed indicator displayed about 150 mph, and the altitude was 3,000 ft msl (1,125 feet above ground level [agl]). Throughout the approach, the pilot manipulated the yoke with both hands and attempted to correct the airplane’s flightpath toward the runway centerline. The pilot appeared to have decreased the power setting significantly as the airplane approached the runway.

The video then showed the airplane crossing the runway threshold with the altimeter indicating 1,850 ft msl and the airspeed indicator showing about 100 mph. According to the airplane’s Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH), the final approach speed should be 81 mph at the airplane’s maximum gross weight. After a hard landing, the airplane entered a series of bounces that were consistent with porpoising. Each bounce led to an increase in the airplane’s pitch angle.

The left-seat pilot stated, “go around,” and the pilot applied throttle. The airplane impacted the runway again and entered another bounce. The airspeed indicator showed about 60 mph, and the pilot applied a positive pitch attitude to abort the landing. The airplane pitched nose-up sharply and remained in a nose-high attitude until it impacted a 50-ft-tall tree about 0.5 miles south of the departure end of the runway, where a postcrash fire ensued.

One witness on the ramp near the departure end of the airport reported that, after clearing trees in a low spot near the airport, the airplane continued over a vineyard and then began to pitch up, the left wing dropped, and the nose then dropped toward the ground; the witness identified the airplane as having entered a stall. The witness lost sight of the airplane behind a hill but saw smoke shortly afterward.

All major structural components of the airplane were located within the debris path. Postaccident examination of the airplane found no evidence of a preexisting mechanical anomaly that would have precluded normal operation. At no point during the go-around did the pilot lower the nose to allow the airplane to accelerate, which caused the airplane to exceed its critical angle of attack during the attempted go around and resulted in an aerodynamic stall at an altitude from which recovery was not possible.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.