View Full Version : Beechcraft B60 Duke crash KFUL Apr 18 2019
atakacs
28th Apr 2019, 05:08
I don't see this one (https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=224121) reported here.
Any idea what could cause such a dramatic upset at takeoff ? Also, do I see a chopper very narrowly missing out at the end of the video ?
rnzoli
28th Apr 2019, 07:15
Jumps away from runway like a rocket and stalls immediately when out of ground effect. Overrotation, aft CG, foreign object blocking yoke/elevator control, pilot seat sliding bacwards etc. have caused very similar accidents.
atakacs
28th Apr 2019, 15:27
Does the Duke have such dramatic stall characteristics ? There must be more to it.
Maoraigh1
28th Apr 2019, 20:45
Engine failure with speed too low, spin?
421dog
29th Apr 2019, 22:57
KFUL is only around 3100’. The likelihood that this guy was above blue line (I’m pretty sure it’s 112 kias, but it’s been a long time since I flew one), was probably nil. If you look closely, by the time he rolls upside down his gear was already up.
I think he was getting ahead of himself, lost his left engine at rotation, well below Vmc, and suffered the consequences of doing something other than pulling both and putting it back on the ground.
Cows getting bigger
30th Apr 2019, 16:01
The Duke can bite. Rudder force required nearing Vmca is an awful lot. Vs is about 73kts, Vmca pretty much the same (maybe a couple of kts more) and Vyse out at 107kts. I always thought the aircraft was a bit quirky and nowhere near as nice to fly as the C90. I certainly wouldn't fancy the challenge of trying to fly away if an engine let go immediately after take-off as it feels nowhere near as forgiving as a C421 or PA31 in such circumstances.
421dog
30th Apr 2019, 18:23
The Duke can bite. Rudder force required nearing Vmca is an awful lot. Vs is about 73kts, Vmca pretty much the same (maybe a couple of kts more) and Vyse out at 107kts. I always thought the aircraft was a bit quirky and nowhere near as nice to fly as the C90. I certainly wouldn't fancy the challenge of trying to fly away if an engine let go immediately after take-off as it feels nowhere near as forgiving as a C421 or PA31 in such circumstances.
Just went down and looked at one a couple hangars down from mine and according to the POH/ASI: (without a VG kit)
Vmca=85
Vyse=112
And, as I recall, from zero thrust demo during my checkout, (a million years ago), you are absolutely correct about fairly high rudder forces required to keep things pointed where they are supposed to be. (Not quite as bad as a T-28 C in slow flight, but definitely enough to make your leg shake until you get it trimmed up)
Jumps away from runway like a rocket and stalls immediately when out of ground effect. Overrotation, aft CG, foreign object blocking yoke/elevator control, pilot seat sliding bacwards etc. have caused very similar accidents.
Add fuel selectors in off positions or empty tanks selected.
421dog
30th Apr 2019, 19:57
Add fuel selectors in off positions or empty tanks selected.
I’ll never say never, but, for all its faults, the Duke has a pretty simplistic fuel system...
Deadstick126
1st May 2019, 01:20
Dayam! That's some dramatic footage!
421dog
1st May 2019, 01:34
Yup, regardless of whatever ultimately happened, the pilot was no doubt a good guy (albeit 10 years my junior, and of sufficiently superior intelligence to have pursued a dental rather than a surgical career).
I don’t know what ultimately happened, but I am sure that he was a good man and true, and that he did his utmost to save his craft.
With a draghm, I’m facing west:
Here’s to you!
(and subsequently East):
“You sons of Bitches”!