N51NP

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On August 18, 2003, about 0708 eastern daylight time, a Beech 400A, N51NP, registered to AC Expeditions, LLC, operated by Executive Beechcraft, Inc., experienced a loss of directional control on takeoff from St. Augustine Airport, St. Augustine, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 positioning flight from St. Augustine Airport, to Hickory Regional Airport, Hickory, North Carolina. The airplane was substantially damaged and the airline transport-rated pilot and copilot were not injured. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.

The pilot-in-command (PIC) seated in the right front seat stated the copilot was flying the airplane, and the calculated V1 speed was 107 knots with 10 degrees of flaps selected. The airplane was stopped with the parking brake applied at the D1 intersection, and after being cleared for takeoff, the parking brake was released and a rolling takeoff from runway 31 was initiated. During the takeoff roll at 105 knots, the airplane turned abruptly 30 degrees to the left, and he initiated the aborted takeoff. He applied the brakes, reduced thrust, and applied both thrust reversers. In an attempt to maintain directional control he and the copilot applied right rudder input and pumped the right brake, but the airplane departed the left side of the runway about 2,000 feet from the departure end of the runway. One of the main landing gears contacted an arresting cable, and the airplane continued onto grass. He further stated that prior to reaching 105 knots, there was no abnormal engine indications. The anti-skid system tested OK before takeoff; anti-skid was selected "on" for the takeoff. He further stated the left main landing gear tire had good tread remaining prior to the flight.

The copilot stated that he advanced the throttle to target 98.2 percent N1, and the non-flying pilot fine tuned them for the desired target N1 speed. Callouts for airspeed alive, and 80 knots crosscheck were made. At approximately 105 knots, the captain called V1, and at this point the aircraft "...severely yawed about 30 degrees to the left...." He applied full right rudder input, but the aircraft was unresponsive. The captain advised him to abort the takeoff, and he applied throttles to idle, reverse thrust, and speed brakes, and right brake to no avail. The aircraft continued veering to the left and at the point when the aircraft approached the side of the runway, he felt the main tire "...blow up, it was impossible to maintain any kind of directional control at this point, the aircraft then veered [off] the side of the runway and continued its path onto the grass...." They evacuated the aircraft, and the captain contacted their company.

According to a transcription of communications with the St. Augustine Airport (KSGJ) Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT), a flightcrew member received IFR clearance at 0702:06, and received taxi clearance at 0709:40; the flight was cleared to taxi to runway 31, hold short of the "D1" intersection. At 0714:19, a flightcrew member advised the local controller that the flight was ready to depart; takeoff clearance from the intersection of runway 31 and D1 was granted at 0714:21, which was acknowledged by a flightcrew member. The next communication was from the controller at 0715:50, in which the controller called out the airplane's registration.

According to the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript, the first 13 minutes 13 seconds of the approximately 30-minute recording contained nothing but sounds consistent with an aircraft sitting at the gate with ground power applied. At 0652:11, the St. Augustine Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) was recorded indicating the wind was from 260 degrees at 5 knots, and altimeter setting was 30.04 inHg. At 0652:29, the copilot establish contact with ground control and requested IFR clearance to the destination airport. The ground controller provided the IFR clearance, which was readback by the copilot. At 0659:02, the CVR recorded the copilot to state "good to start one" followed by eight seconds later "we're, we're starting two." The PIC responded "kill the avionics." At 0700:15, the PIC's hot microphone recorded him to state "throttles." At 0700:53, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "you got the parking brake", to which the copilot stated "Yep." At 0701:03, the PIC stated "can you release the b uh?... there we go." At 0701:34, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "you already got the ATIS and everything?", to which the copilot stated "yeah, I got the clearance and everything..." At 0701:55, the PIC established contact with ground control and requested taxi clearance, which was provided by the ground controller. At 0702:54, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "brakes and antiskid", there was no response from the copilot. At 0703:07, the CVR recorded the copilot to state "my brakes are working. you wanna tap your brakes?" The PIC responded "yeah", followed by "this jeez, I can't even reach the damn pedals over here", to which the copilot responded "me neither." At 0703:14, the PIC reported "there we go.... you, your airplane." Between 0703:52, and 0705:13, the CVR recorded communications consistent with the flight crew members putting information into the flight management system (FMS). At 0705:22, the PIC stated "parking brake" to which the copilot responded "I can't pull the * You have to step on the brake or something, or is it stuck?" The PIC immediately responded "huh? no, p push down on it", to which the copilot responded "oh there you go." The local controller cleared the flight to take off at 0706:37, which was acknowledged by the PIC. At 0707:01, the PIC stated "one oh seven, one thirteen, and one twenty" referring to V1, Vr, and V2 speeds. The CVR transcript continues and at 0707:35, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "airspeed's alive on two tapes", followed by "we're in the green", then "80 knots, good to go." At 0707:47, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "V one", followed one second later by "rotate." At 0707:49, the CVR recorded the copilot to state "whoa." One second later the cockpit area microphone recorded an unidentified squealing sound, followed by a comment from the copilot three seconds later "hit it, hit it." The PIC questioned what the copilot was referring to, and the copilot responded at 0707:58, "power off." Approximately 3 seconds later the cockpit area microphone recorded a sound of rattling and bumping. The PIC then ordered evacuation of the aircraft, and at 0708:12, the cockpit area microphone recorded the sounds of decreasing engine rpm.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot-in-command seated in the right front seat was the holder of an airline transport pilot certificate with airplane multi-engine land rating, and BE-400A type rating. He was issued a first class medical certificate on June 4, 2003, with no limitations. He reportedly had accumulated 60.4 hours total time in the accident make and model airplane.

The copilot seated in the left front seat was the holder of an airline transport pilot certificate with airplane multi-engine land rating, and BE-400A type rating. He was issued a first class medical certificate on May 29, 2003, with no limitations. He also reportedly had accumulated 60.4 hours total time in the accident make and model airplane, with 5.0 hours as pilot-in-command.

On June 20, 2003, both the captain and copilot satisfactorily completed Executive Beechcraft, Inc.'s BE400A and FAR Part 135 initial pilot training. The training occurred from June 9 to June 20, 2003, and included 64.5 hours of ground and 29.5 hours of simulator training conducted at FlightSafety International Raytheon Aircraft Learning Center in Wichita, Kansas.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The airplane was manufactured by Raytheon Aircraft Company as a 400A, designated serial number RK-224, and certificated in the transport category.

Review of the airplane maintenance records revealed the airplane was last inspected in accordance with an FAA Approved Aircraft Inspection Program (AAIP) "A,B Check" on January 16, 2003, at an airplane total time of 997.1 hours. The airplane had accumulated approximately 90 hours since the inspection. The maintenance records further indicate that on January 22, 2003, at an aircraft total time of approximately 1,003 hours, the "power brake valve" was removed, and an overhauled unit was installed. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 84 hours since the overhauled "power brake valve" was installed.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

A METAR weather observation taken at St. Augustine Airport at 0715, or at the approximate time of the accident, indicates the wind was from 240 degrees at 4 knots, the visibility was 10 statute miles, clear skies existed, the temperature and dew point were 23 and 22 degrees Celsius, respectively, and the altimeter setting was 30.05 inHg.

COMMUNICATIONS

The flightcrew was in contact with the St. Augustine Air Traffic Control Tower, there were no reported communication difficulties.

AIRPORT INFORMATION

The St. Augustine Airport is equipped in part with one runway designated 13/31, which is 7,996 feet long and 150 feet wide. At the time of the accident, a disabled airplane was located east of the displaced threshold for runway 31; therefore, 6,300 feet of runway was available for takeoff.

FLIGHT RECORDERS

The airplane was not equipped with a flight data recorder.

The airplane was equipped with a Fairchild A100S cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Readout of the CVR was performed by the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Division, located in Washington, D.C. Laboratory personnel determined that the recorder had been manually bulk-erased after the accident; however, the erased data was recovered using laboratory techniques. The CVR recorded communications from before starting the engines, to the ...