CHI02FA199

The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post-impact fire when it impacted the terrain about 1/3 mile northeast of the departure end of runway 20 during takeoff. The airplane was cleared for a right turnout after takeoff, but witnesses observed the airplane climb to about 100 feet, veer left, enter a left bank, go inverted, and then impact the terrain in a nose low attitude. The airplane's left and right wings, fuselage, and cockpit were largely consumed by fire. Inspection of the airplane revealed the flaps and landing gear were retracted. There was aileron control continuity from the control yoke to the aileron bellcranks. There was elevator and rudder control cable continuity from the bellcranks at the forward bulkhead to the control surfaces. Inspections of the engines and propellers indicated the right engine and propeller was producing power in the middle to high power range at impact, and the left engine and propeller was producing power in the low to middle range of power at impact. The 60-year old pilot had flown 942 hours in the accident airplane, and was described as a very safety conscious, conservative pilot, who performed very thorough preflights and adhered to all checklists. The 22-year old pilot rated passenger had not received ground or flight instruction in the make and model of the accident airplane. The toxicology reports were negative for all substances tested. There were no remarkable findings in the autopsies.

History of flight

On July 21, 2002, at 1026 central daylight time, a Beech E-90, N12KA, operated by Image Air, Inc., was destroyed when it impacted the terrain about 1/3 mile northeast of the departure end of runway 20 (7,000 feet by 100 feet, concrete) at the Central Illinois Regional Airport (BMI), Bloomington, Illinois. The airplane was departing from runway 20 and had climbed about 100 feet when it veered to the left, rolled inverted, and impacted the terrain in a nose low attitude. The private pilot and the pilot rated passenger received fatal injuries. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was departing BMI with Cable Union (3CU), Wisconsin, as the destination airport. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight was on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan.

The transcript of conversation between the pilot of N12KA and the Bloomington Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) indicated that N12KA received its IFR clearance at 1013. At 1013:18 the ground controller asked N12KA if he was ready for taxi. The pilot responded, "Ah, negative, we are going to go out here and do some run-ups (unintelligible)."

At 1018:53, N12KA informed ground control that he was ready to taxi. Ground control cleared the airplane to taxi to runway 20.

At 1024:06, N12KA informed tower control that he was ready for takeoff. The tower cleared N12KA for takeoff with instructions to turn right heading three six zero and climb and maintain 9,000. At 1024:33, N12KA acknowledged the takeoff and climb clearance.

A witness, who was a passenger of a commuter airplane waiting for takeoff from runway 20, reported the following:

"I first noticed the Beech aircraft when it crossed in front of our plane while taking off. It appeared to be at a decent takeoff speed when it left the ground. There was no indication while it was on the ground of any malfunctioning equipment. Once the plane left the ground is when I noticed there appeared to be something not quite right. The rear of the plane was swaying back and forth (like wagging its tail) and it was not gathering altitude very fast. There wasn't much wind at that time as the wind sock at the west end of the runway was at about a 45-degree angle. As I kept watching, the plane started to turn to the left and was still at a low altitude of approximately 50-75 feet. I was thinking to myself that it better get some more altitude or it may hit the control tower (that is what I perceived from the angle I was looking). The plane did gain a little more altitude but not much. It looked as though it was level with the top of the control tower.

The left wing suddenly tipped to the left and I could see the complete top of the plane and then the nose dropped as if it had stalled, and the plane went into a vertical dive. I lost sight of the plane due to a slight hill blocking my view, but as soon as the plane disappeared a large ball of fire erupted followed by thick black smoke."

Another witness reported seeing the airplane heading in a southeast direction when it appeared to enter a spin and rotate to the inverted position before it impacted the ground.

The airplane impacted the terrain outside the fenced airport property, about 1/3 mile northeast from the departure end of runway 20.

Personnel information

The 60-year-old private pilot held multi-engine land, single engine land, and airplane instrument ratings. He held a Third Class medical certificate. He had a total of about 1,740 hours of flight time. Approximately 1,200 hours were in multi-engine airplanes and approximately 942 were flown in N12KA. The pilot had flown N12KA approximately 40 hours in the last 90 days and 8 hours in the last 30 days.

The pilot attended FlightSafety's King Air C/E-90 Initial training course from February 23-27, 1998. He attended FlightSafety's King Air C/E-90 Recurrent training courses in June 1998, June 1999, and July 2000. On August 4, 2001, the pilot attended TechniFlite's Recurrent training program for King Air 90-series pilots.

A witness, who was employed by a major United States airline as a Boeing B-777 First Officer and was also the pilot's son, reported that the pilot was "exceptionally thorough" in all his preflight habits and flight preparations. He reported the pilot routinely did what he was supposed to do on every preflight. He reported the pilot would typically taxi to the ramp or the end of the ramp to do all his systems checks and the first flight of the day checks. He reported that in the last 2-3 years, the pilot was flying the airplane the way it was supposed to by flown, with good procedures and good judgment.

The operator of Image Air reported the pilot was a very safety conscious and conservative pilot. He reported the pilot performed very thorough preflight and engine checks, and it was not uncommon for the pilot to do two "walk around" inspections during the preflight. He reported the pilot normally performed his engine checks prior to taxi.

The 22-year-old pilot rated passenger held commercial and flight instructor certificates with single and multi-engine airplane, and instrument airplane ratings. He held a Second Class medical certificate. He had a total of about 998 hours of flight time, with approximately 27 hours of multi-engine flight time. The pilot rated passenger's flight logbook indicated that on February 15, 2002, he flew with the accident pilot in N12KA for 8.2 hours. He had not received ground school or flight training in King Air 90-series airplanes. He was currently employed by a fixed base operator where he provided ground school and flight instruction.

Aircraft information

The airplane was a twin engine Beech E-90 King Air, serial number LW-41, with a maximum gross weight of 10,100 pounds. The engines were 550 horsepower P&W PT6A-28 engines. The last maintenance inspection was a Phase 1 inspection and was conducted on June 18, 2002. The airplane had flown 18 hours since the last inspection and had a total time of 8,643 hours. An inspection of the maintenance records revealed that all avionic inspections and all Airworthiness Directives were current and complied with.

Meteorological information

At 1045, the weather conditions reported at BMI were: winds 250 at 10 knots, sky clear with 7 statute miles visibility, temperature 33 degrees C, dew point 24 degrees C, altimeter 30.03.

Wreckage and impact information

The airplane impacted the terrain in a level, weed covered field outside of the airport boundary. A ground scar indicated the initial point of impact. The wreckage path covered approximately 65 feet from the initial point of impact to the main wreckage on an approximate heading of 100 degrees. The main airplane wreckage came to rest at coordinates 40 degrees 28.037 minutes north latitude, 088 degrees 54.457 minutes west longitude. The majority of the left and right wing, cockpit, cabin, and fuselage were destroyed or consumed by impact forces and fire.

Pieces of white paint and clear glass were located near the initial point of impact. The outboard section of the right wingtip approximately 3 feet in length was located 14 feet along the wreckage path. The green navigation lens was still attached to the wingtip. Two propeller blades that had separated from the right propeller hub were located next to a shallow impact area approximately 6 feet by 3 feet, located about 34 feet from the initial point of impact on about a 160 degree heading. The right propeller hub with two propeller blades still attached to the hub was located about 13.5 feet from the 2 right propeller blades. One of the left propeller blades that had separated from the left propeller hub was found next to another shallow impact area approximately 3 feet by 3 feet, located about 16 feet from the 2 right propeller blades. The left propeller hub with three propeller blades still attached to the hub was located abou