- Date
- March 11, 1989, 16:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Manassas, VA
- Injuries
- 5 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N98DSBeech A60
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890311003609A
- Case key
- 11454
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
A loss of aircraft control due to the pilot's failure to maintain minimum engine control speed after a partial loss of power of the left engine for undetermined reasons. The pilot's inexperience in type of aircraft and an over maximum gross weight aircraft were contributing factors.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Witnesses reported the acft took off and climbed to about 300 ft while in a wide left turn. According to witnesses, the wings were rocking and erratic engine sounds were noted. The acft was turning downwind when it abruptly pitched down, rolled left until inverted, descended and crash. Examination of the acft revealed no evidence of malfunction, although the left prop had less rotational damage than the right prop. Examination of acft records revealed the acft was inactive for about 9 yrs until it was returned to service less than a year before the accident. The acft accumulated about 17 hrs since it was returned to service. The plt stated to a witness before the accident that he had not done single engine operation in the acft. The acft was overloaded more than 200 lbs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N98DS
- Reported as
- Beech A60
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- P-227
- Airframe hours
- 1,775
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-541-E1C4, 380 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Operator
- Rts Service Inc.
- Registered owner
- Rts Service Inc
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 29, 1988
- Destination
- ILG · Wilmington, DE
- Airport
- W10 · Manassas, runway 16L, 5,700 × 100 ft
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 60
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Expired
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 25,130 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- IAD
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.