N91WC

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On July 13, 2001, at 0057 central daylight time, a Beech E-55, N91WC, twin-engine airplane, piloted by a commercial pilot, was destroyed after it departed controlled flight and impacted into a garage in a residential area of Carterville, Missouri, 3 miles east of the Joplin Regional Airport (JLN), Joplin, Missouri. Prior to the crash, the airplane lost power on one engine. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The airplane departed Sulphur, Louisiana, on July 12, 2001, at approximately 2230, without a flight plan on file. On reaching the Joplin area, the commercial pilot filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) plan with the Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZKC). The cross-country flight was to terminate at Joplin, Missouri. The pilot and five passengers on board sustained fatal injuries in the crash. There were no injuries to persons on the ground.

At 0011:38, ZKC established radio contact with N91WC. The pilot informed ZKC that he was going to start a slow descent into the Joplin airport. ZKC asked the pilot if he had the current weather for landing. The pilot said, "negative". ZKC informed the pilot that the weather at JLN was winds 050 degrees at 7 knots, 10 miles visibility, ceilings of 800 feet broken and 5,000 feet overcast, and an altimeter of 29.99 inches of Mercury (Hg). The pilot responded that they were going to need an IFR approach into JLN. ZKC cleared N91WC direct to JLN and told them to maintain 4,000 feet mean sea level (msl).

At 0017:25, ZKC inquired, [N91WC] "are you heading over towards joplin now?" The pilot said his global positioning system (GPS) equipment was showing he was heading direct to JLN. ZKC asked the pilot what heading he was on. The pilot responded, "forty two degrees." ZKC said, "ok yeah that ought to be good if you turn right to uh about a zero three five zero four zero heading that'll take you direct joplin looked like you were heading to the north there looked like you were heading straight north."

At 0018:05, the pilot inquired, "and what kind of approach we gonna make?" ZKC said, "it'll be approach of your choice they've got i l s they've got uh back course uh just let me know what you want to do i can vector you for i l s if you want."

The pilot said, "i've got the approach plate out now for the i l s uh one eight." ZKC said, "all right turn uh fifteen degrees left vectors i l s uh you say you want to do i l s one eight?" The pilot said, "i guess that'll do." ZKC then said, "ok they got vectors uh they've got the i l s one three or one eight it'll be your choice uh."

After rechecking the winds, the pilot told ZKC, "i guess we'll uh let me see if i got that one approach plate."

At 0021:50, the pilot said, uh center one whiskey charlie i've got that approach plate out now." ZKC told the pilot, "ok thank you and uh turn fifteen degrees left vectors i l s runway one three into joplin fifteen left."

At 0028:35, ZKC told the pilot, "november niner one whiskey charlie turn right heading one zero zero one hundred on the heading." The pilot responded, "one zero zero roger."

At 0029:30, ZKC told the pilot, "november one whiskey charlie continue right turn heading one three zero you're eight miles north west of lunns intersection then maintain three thousand two hundred until established cleared i l s runway one three into joplin over." The pilot responded, "one whiskey charlie roger."

At 0030:22, ZKC asked the pilot, "and one whiskey charlie are you on the localizer inbound now?" The pilot responded, "one whiskey charlie doesn't show uh it on." ZKC said, "all right turn uh let's go fifteen left you may have turned a little tight left to join i'll let you know when you're on it."

At 0031:14, the pilot said, "we show on the localizer now." ZKC said, "all right one whiskey charlie you're cleared i l s one three into joplin thirty two hundred."

At 0031:35, the pilot said, "... i just got a red flag on this localizer uh center one whiskey charlie." ZKC said, "all right you say you're not getting it in now." The pilot responded, "uh got a red flag on the nav here". ZKC asked the pilot, "... you want to try another approach there something else then?" The pilot said, "i've lost uh the localizer and glide slope both i guess i ought to go over there and try that one eight". ZKC said, "… we can vector you up there … maintain your present altitude … you can climb up to four thousand … vectors for the i l s runway one eight and let's turn left heading zero three zero take you in from the east side there."

At 0033:46, ZKC asked, "you say you still got plenty of fuel you say you got two hours fuel there?" The pilot responded, "uh yes sir."

At 0038:51, ZKC told the pilot, "uh you can turn left now head to the north heading three six zero." The pilot responded, "left three six zero." ZKC told the pilot, "we'll take you up here about ten miles turn you back in on the localizer one eight."

At 0041:14, ZKC told the pilot, "november nine one whiskey charlie turn left heading two seven zero." The pilot responded, "left two seven zero roger." At 0042:06, ZKC told the pilot, "... continue left turn heading of two zero zero two hundred on the heading." The pilot acknowledged.

At 0042:30, ZKC told the pilot, "… you're one three miles north of the airport heading of one ninety maintain three thousand two hundred until established cleared i l s runway one eight into joplin you should be joining here in half a mile or so."

At 0045:11, ZKC said, "one charlie whiskey i show you right on the localizer now inbound do you concur with that." The pilot said, "well it's showing slightly left to our left."

At 0045:36, ZKC said, "and one whiskey charlie say your altitude radar contact is lost." The pilot said, "one whiskey charlie two thousand seven hundred descending." ZKC said, "roger and are you established now." The pilot said, "uh i'm about a needle width to the uh left i mean to the uh right of course."

At 0046:36, ZKC asked the pilot, "are you established inbound yet?" The pilot said, "we're close."

At 0047:27, the pilot said, "uh we're showing 2,500 feet."

At 0047:53, ZKC told the pilot, uh one whiskey charlie radar contact is lost change to advisory approved cancel out this frequency if unable you need to cancel out through radio."

At 0048:40, ZKC said, "and november one whiskey charlie if you're still with the center can hear me i show you just about over the airport twenty four hundred feet."

At 0048:47, the pilot said, "uh one whiskey charlie we're going to make a missed approach and go try it again uh never could get the runway lights on i don't think."

At 0050:55, ZKC asked, "ok do you want to try another approach there what kind do you want to try?" The pilot said, "well we'll try that one more time see if we can get down through it." ZKC said, "nine one whiskey charlie roger you can climb and maintain four thousand you're radar contact a mile south of the joplin airport four thousand left heading zero two zero vectors for the i l s runway one eight again." The pilot responded, "that's a left zero two zero you say." ZKC said, "yeah we'll head you up to the northeast again of zero two zero vectors for the i l s runway one eight. The pilot acknowledged.

At 0055:06, ZKC said, "and one whiskey charlie center." There was no response.

At 0055:13, ZKC said, "november nine one whiskey charlie center."

At 0055:16, the pilot said, "one whiskey charlie we're having a little problem here i think we've lost an engine i'm trying to get leveled off here and get back up to four thousand feet." ZKC told the pilot, "one whiskey charlie roger just keep me advised."

At 0056:06, ZKC said, "november nine one whiskey charlie i show you descending below the minimum safe altitude two thousand three hundred over." There were no further transmissions from N91WC.

The last position recorded by ZKC radar for N91WC showed the airplane 3 miles east of JLN in a descent.

Several witnesses in Carterville, Missouri, heard the airplane flying in the area beginning approximately 0015. One witness said he heard the airplane going east, then west, and then back east again. The witness said that when he heard the airplane travel east the second time, it sounded like a single-engine airplane. The witness also said it sounded like the airplane was "awful low".

Another witness saw the airplane just before the accident. She said she could see the lights on the airplane. The witness described the airplane pitch up into a 30-degree nose high climb, roll counterclockwise, and then enter a 45-degree dive toward the ground. The airplane continued its counterclockwise roll until she lost sight of it behind some trees.

A witness in the residence across the street (west) of the garage the airplane struck said he heard the airplane. "It sounded like a nosedive barrel roll. It was loud and fast." The witness said, "It sounded like a loud engine running and it sounded like one engine, not two." The witness said he was heading for his front door when the airplane hit. He said the impact knocked him to the floor. The witness said he got up, opened his front door and saw the tail of the airplane in his yard. The witness' wife said that their house started to shake just before the airplane hit. She said the impact was loud and that she had never heard anything like it before in her life.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The 70 year old pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for single-engine and multi-engine, instrument airplanes, issued on February 24, 1999. The pilot also held a flight instructor certificate with provisions to instruct in single-engine and multi-engine instrument airplanes. The pilot's instructor pilot certificate was due for renewal on April 30, 2002. Additionally, the pi...