19990417003659A

Acft landed on rwy 28, ran off the rwy, and went down a 45-foot embankment, the acft sustained substantial damage, and the 8 POB sustained unknown injuries. (.19) on April 17, 1999, about 1451 eastern daylight time, a Raytheon BE-400A, a beechjet, N400VG, was substantially damaged while landing at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport (bkw), Beckley, west Virginia. Two flight crew members, and four passengers were seriously injured. Two passengers sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed palm beach international airport, west palm beach, Florida, about 1300. The corporate flight was conducted under 14 CFR part 91. The airplane landed on runway 28, a 5,000 foot long, 100 foot wide, asphalt runway. A witness at the airport stated he was in front of the airport line office when he observed the accident airplane touchdown, to the right of his position. He stated the airplane touched down, "hard, like it fell out of the sky," and observed a "lot of blue smoke" coming from the airplanes tires. He looked away, and when he looked back at the runway, he observed the tail of the airplane disappear below the grass area which extended beyond the runway. In a telephone interview, the passenger who was seated on the right side of the airplane, in the second row, stated it was very windy and it seemed like the pilot was having a difficult time getting the airplane on the ground. At some point after the touchdown, he looked out of the cockpit window, and saw the end of the runway. He said the airplane seemed like it was still moving "pretty fast". As the airplane approached the end of the runway he could see smoke coming from it's tires. The airplane entered the grass area, and he then sensed the airplane was falling. A passenger who was seated on the right side of the airplane, in the last row, stated he saw the runway while the airplane was on approach to the airport. He said that he did not pay much attention to the landing, however, within a second or two, he knew the airplane had reached the middle of the runway. As the airplane continued down the runway, he thought the airplane would not be able to stop before the end of the runway. He felt the airplane enter the grass area. The airplane then became airborne, pitched down, and impacted the ground. A third passenger described the impact as sudden, "like we hit a brick wall." A pair of parallel tire marks, whick were about 9 feet 4 inches apart from each other, were observed to begin 3,200 feet beyond the approach end of runway 28. Some of the tire marks contained a series of equal spaces in between the tire mark. The tire marks extended past the end of the runway and onto a grass area. The grass area at the end of runway 28, extended about 106 feet. The terrain then sloped down at about a 45 degree angle for approximately 90 feet, then reached a plateau. This area contained small trees, bushes, rock and several previously cut trees. Beyond the plateau was a wooded area with continued down sloping terrain. On scene examination of the wreckage revealed the airplane came to rest on the plateau, upright, and on a magnetic heading of approsimately 250 degrees. All major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene. The airplane's nose section was buckled slightly and crushed upward. The tail cone was partially separated and canted to the left. The area near the tail cone was crushed upward. The left wing sustained minor damage. The right wing leading edge near the wing tip and an area near the wing root sustained impact damage. There was no scrapping or scratches observed on the underside of the fuselage or wings. (-23) the a/c touched down approx. 2000 feet down the runway and was unable to stop before running off of the end and over a 75' embankment. The total length of the runway is 5000 feet and the surface was dry. The a/c was damaged substantially and the passengers and crew sustained serious injuries. (.4)the airplane touched down about 1/3 beyond the approach end of runway 28, a 5,000 foot-long, asphalt runway. The PIC stated, 'as usual,' he applied 'light' braking and attempted to actuated the airplane's thrust reverser (tr) system; however, the tr handles could not be moved beyond the 'deploy-reverse-idle' position. After the PIC cycled the levers two or three times, he began to apply maximum braking. A passenger in the airplane stated he looked out of the cockpit window, saw the end of the runway, and the airplane seemed like it was still moving 'pretty fast.' As the airplane approached the end of the runway, he could see smoke, which he believed was coming from the airplane's tires. He then sensed the airplane was falling. The co-pi lot stated he had no memory at all of the accident flight. Review of the CVR revealed the co-pilot said that the airplane was 'vref plus about twenty,' when the airplane was 100 feet over the runway threshold. The PIC could not recall the airplane's touchdown speed, however, he stated that it seemed like the airplane was still traveling 50 to 60 knots when it departed the end of the runway. A pair of parallel tire marks were observed 3,200 feet beyond the approach end of the runway. The tire marks extended past the end of the runway and onto a 106 foot-long grass area. The airplane came to rest on a plateau about 90 feet below the runway elevation. Examination of the airplane, including the optional tr system did not reveal any pre-impact malfunctions. The airplane's estimated landing distance was calculated to be about 3,100 feet. The PIC reported about 4,700 hours of total flight experience, of which, 107 hours were in make and model. The PIC stated he had never performed a landing in the accident airplane without using the tr system. Winds reported at the time of the accident were from 290 degrees at 15 knots, with 21 knot gusts.