I am not familiar BEH airport (or the region it is in), but from a number of hours spent flying in California, I've learned that some GA fields there are quite difficult to pick out against the surrounding ground clutter, even from a mile or two, especially on a hazy day, looking into sun.
Under those circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to ask ATC for vectors. The hardest thing would be building the mental picture of where I was in relation to the airfield (spatial orientation), as I flew those vectors, under the pressure of dealing with an SEP engine failure.
Also, although I don't have time on a PA46, I recognise that it is a relatively high performance single (compared to an Arrow or similar) and it seemed that the stall/spin might have been a result of the pilot trying to "stretch" the glide. I wonder if the pilot really understood how musch altitude was required for the last mile or two and what the visual picture would look like compared to a normal approach.
An earlier poster, with PA46 experience, explains the high sink rate on final and I wonder if this was a contributing factor to the stall/spin accident?
Whatever the reason, the ppor guy paid a hell of a price for the lesson.
Last edited by Final 3 Greens; 7th August 2005 at 08:50.