19990412003259A

Acft crashed under unknown circunstances after climbing to 8,000 feet and being vectored to the new river valley arpt at dublin, VA, the VA state police confirmed that the acft had crashed and that all 4 POB suffered fatal injuries, other circumstances are unknown. (From .19) on April 12, 1999, at 1412 eastern daylight time, a Beech BE-95A, N3113K, was destroyed during a collision with terrain in Shawsville, Virginia. The certificated private pilot and three passengers sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight that originated from roanoke regional/woodrum field (roa), roanoke, Virginia, at 1357. An instrument flight rules flight (IFR) plan was filed for the flight destined for claxton, Georgia (cwv), and conducted under 14 CFR part 91. Initial information from the federal aviation administration (FAA) revealed that the pilot was given an IFR clearance and instructed to climb to 8,000 feet after departure. Prior to receiving the clearance, the pilot advised the tower that he had "information romeo" from the automated terminal information service (ATIS). Information romeo contained a hazardous in-flight weather alert system ( hiwas) alert for, "...moderate to occasional severe turbulence below 12,000 feet due to northwesterly winds over rough terrain...." For the roanoke area and along the airplane's proposed route of flight. According to the tower supervisor, the tower controller stopped the airplane's climb at 6,000 feet for traffic. After a brief period, pilot was told to continue the climb to 8,000 feet. The tower controller then radioed N3113K and requested a pilot report (PIREP). The controller had received other pirep's about turbulence and was curious what the pilot was experiencing. The controller did not receive a response, and the airplane disappeared from the radarscope. The controller said the airplane had reached an altitude of 6,700 feet before he lost track of the target. According to the tower supervisor, a review of the voice and radar tapes revealed no distress calls or any emergency transponder codes from N3113K. He said, 'we had only routine communications with the airplane." One witness said, "when I looked up, it was going '...blup, blup, blup, blup..." And the wings were rocking side to side. Then the wing dropped off to the right and it went all the way around. It did a complete donut and then it went straight down." When asked about the weather at the time of the accident, she responded, "it was cloudy and windy. Real windy. Real, real, windy. And chippy.....it was cold." A second witness stated, "it's not uncommon for planes to travel this way. I heard this steady drone and then it just quit....just positively stopped. When I looked up, the airplane just spun." With a model of an airplane in his hand, the witness demonstrated a nose-down spinning motion. According to a warden of the Virginia game department, "the winds were really strong up in here yesterday. There were trees blown down all over the county." A sergeant with the Virginia state police stated that he was in the vicinity of roa at 9,000 feet in a Cessna 182 at the time of the accident. He said he was unable to control his altitude or airspeed. The sergeant said that in an effort to maintain his assigned altitude, he slowed the airplane to 52 knots with full power applied. He said the airplane continued to descend approx. 700 feet per minute. Almost immediately thereafter, the airplane began a climb and an acceleration that he could not control. He said, "with the po wer all the way out and the nost pushed over, I couldn't stop the climb. Next thing I know, the airspeed indicator is in the yellow arc and my GPS is showing 190 knots over the ground. In my 25 years of flying, I never experienced anything like it." The sergeant further stated that he heard other pilots describe "severe" turbulence over the roanoke radio frequency, and that throughout his encounter, the outside air temperature dropped from approximately 40 degrees to below freezing. The pilot of a Beech king air 200 stated he flew in and out of the Virginia tech airport (bcb), 7 miles northwest of the accident site, at the time of the accident. He said he landed at bcb at 1330, and departed at 1405. He stated: "we experienced moderate turbulence on the clouds all the way to the surface. We did not use any [anti-ice/de-ice] equipment. We did not use the boots. There was a cherokee pilot on 126.9. He wanted to come back to roa for severe turbulence. He said 'this was definately extreme turbulence.' He was pretty shook up, you could tell by his voice. The tension level was really high." "It was a terrible day. That was a day that I would rather not have flown in. I st rap in really tight and we were coming up out of our seats on arrival and departure. We had 'pitch hold' engaged on our autopilot and we experienced plus or minus 15 knots on the airspeed." The king air pilot said the base of the cloud layer was at 5,400 feet and the tops were at 9,500 feet. The airplane was examined at the site on April 13 and 14, 1999. There was a strong odor of fuel and all major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene. The airplane came to rest in wooded, mountainous terrain, on a slope of approx. 40 degrees. Tree scars were limited to the area directly above the wreckage and several angular cut branches were noted at the scene. The nose section was completely destroyed. The instrument panel, control quadrants, and rudder pedals were destroyed and crushed aft into the cabin area. The bottom of the fuselage and both wings were crushed upwards in compression. Flight control continuity was established from the cockpit area to the right wing and tail. Flight control continuity was established to the left wing outward of the egine nacelle. Continuity was established from the breaks to the flight control surfaces. A preliminary examina tion of the engines and propellers were performed on April 15, 1999. All four propeller blades displayed similar twisting, bending, leading edge gouging, and chordwise scratching. The oil sumps of both engines were completely destroyed and the engine cases were cracked; however, both engines could be rotated by hand. Continuity was established through the powertrain, valvetrain, and accessory sections of both engines. Compression was confirmed using the thumb method. A detailed examination of the airplane's engines will be conducted at a future date. Examination of fuel records realed N3113K was fueled with 26.1 gallons of aviation fuel and departed roa with full tanks. The published maximum gross weight of the airplane was 4,200 pounds. At the maximum gross weight, the center-of-gravity (CG) range was listed to be from 80.5 inches, to 86 inches aft of datum. The contents of the airplane were weighed at the scene using a scale provided by the Virginia department of game. The Virginia state police provided the weights of the occupants. Fuel weight was based on full tanks minus 10 gallons for start-up, taxi, take-off, and initial climb. A review of weight and balance dat a revealed the airplane's calculated weight was approx. 4,566 pounds. The airplane's center of gravity was calculated at 90.68 inches aft of datum. A review of the pilot's logbook revealed the pilot recorded 879.2 hours of flight experience. The pilot recorded 36.5 hours of multi-engine experience since November 6, 1998, all of which was in the BE-95A. From August 1991 to November 1998, the pilot logged one flight in a multi-engine airplane; a familiarization ride in a Cessna 401, on February 18, 1996. The pilot obtained a multi-engine instrument rating on February 19, 1999. (-23)pilot lost control of aircraft after encountering severe turbulence while climbing to his assigned altitude while operating on an IFR flight plan. This loss of control lead to a stall and spin in which the pilot was unable to recover. The investigation revealed that the aircrafts weight exceeded the maximum allowed and the the loading exceeded the aft c.g. limits. (.4)the pilot was briefed on two occasions by a flight service briefer and was advised of a SIGMET for moderate to severe turbulence for the departure airport area and along the airplane's proposed route of flight. The pilot acknowledged receipt of a hazardous in-flight alert system (hiwas) alert for moderate to occasional severe turbulence just prior to takeoff. After departure, the tower controller stopped the airplane's climb at 6,000 feet for traffic, then told the pilot to continue the climb to 8,000 feet. The controller had received pilot reports (pireps) about turbulence and asked the pilot what he was experiencing. The controller did not receive a response, and the airplane disappeared from the radarscope after reaching an altitude of 6,700 feet. Post accident interviews with other pilots revealed they experienced severe turbulence during the same time frame in the vicinity of the accident. Computer analysis of weather data indicated a 100% probability of severe turbulence at 6,000 feet, and at 7,000 feet, vertical motions of 3,153 feet per minute indicated a severe mountain wave. A PIREP placed the base of the cloud layer at 5,400 feet and the tops at 9,500 feet. T he airplane's published maximum gross weight at the time of the accident was 4,566 pounds,with the center of gravity calculated at 90.68 inches aft of datum.