DEN06FA091

The pilot, who had recently purchased the airplane, was receiving type-specific flight instruction to comply with insurance policy requirements, and had accumulated 6 hours of instruction. When the lineman checked the fuel tanks on the morning of the accident, they were half full. The pilots declined his offer to refuel. The airplane had been aloft for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, when it arrived at another airport and made 2 full-stop landings. Numerous witnesses reported hearing the engine "sputtering and coughing" and seeing the extended landing gear being retracted before the airplane struck a parked semi truck in a residential neighborhood. It exploded on impact and both the airplane and semi truck were consumed by fire. The fuel selector valve was found positioned on the left tank. The airplane was equipped with standard fuel tanks. According to the Beech A36 "Pilot's Operating Handbook," each wing tank holds 40 gallons of fuel, of which 37 gallons are useable. Performance charts indicate each takeoff and climbout would consume approximately 3.5 gallons of fuel (10.5 gallons). The airplane took off and made two takeoffs and landings prior to the loss of power. The airplane had been aloft for approximately 1.25 hours. Cruise performance charts for 10,000 feet (+20 degrees C. ISA) vary between 9.5 and 14.0 gph (gallons per hour), depending on leaning technique.

History of flight

On July 3, 2006, approximately 1000 mountain daylight time, a Beech A36TC, N1800Z, was destroyed when the it struck trees and impacted a semi truck in a residential neighborhood approximately 2 miles southeast of Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado. A post-impact fire ensued. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The instructional flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The private pilot and ATP (airline transport pilot) -certificated flight instructor were fatally injured. There were no injuries to persons on the ground. The flight originated at Garfield County Regional Airport (RIL), Rifle, Colorado, approximately 0830.

The pilot purchased the airplane from Heartland Airplanes in Olathe, Kansas, and it was delivered to Rifle, Colorado, about two weeks before the accident. According to insurance papers found in the wreckage, the pilot was required to log "15 hours of dual instruction in [airplane] make/model with [an] approved certified flight instructor who meets ALL the requirements of the open pilot warranty" prior to solo. Prior to carrying passengers, the pilot was required to log "25 total hours in [airplane] make/model." On July 1, 2006, the pilot logged 6 hours with his flight instructor, who at the same time gave him his biennial flight review. No other Beech A36 flight time was recorded in the pilot's logbook.

The airplane was refueled three times on July 1: 44.9 gallons at 0917:27, 28.0 gallons at 1208:39, and 27.0 gallons at 1535:45. According to the line serviceman, each time the airplane was refueled, the tanks were filled "up to slots" (32 useable gallons each tank, see TESTS AND RESEARCH).

On the morning of the accident, the line serviceman pulled the airplane out of its hangar. Knowing that the pilots were en route to the airport, he visually checked the fuel tanks as a courtesy. He found them to be "half full." He offered to refuel the airplane but the pilots refused, saying they had sufficient fuel. They departed RIL approximately 0830 and arrived in MTJ approximately 0930.

According to the MTJ fixed base operator, all radio transmissions are tape-recorded. A UNICOM operator also makes handwritten entries on a log sheet. The following is based on that data:

0941 N1800Z made initial contact with the Unicom operator, and advised they would be taking off on runway 31.

0949 N1800Z announced it was turning from base leg onto final approach fro runway 31.

0950 Unicom transmission.

0951 N1800Z announced it had made a full stop landing, was clear of the runway and was taxiing back to runway 31 via taxiway B,

0952 Unicom transmission

0953 N1800Z announced it would be making a full stop landing and a takeoff on runway 31. This was the last communication with the airplane.

0959 Squelch break.

1002 Fire department is page out.

Nineteen witnesses were interviewed by telephone. Five of those witnesses submitted written statements.

Witness #9 said she was "positive" the engine was not running when the airplane passed over her house. She said the airplane was "gliding," and there was no noise coming from the engine.

Witness #13 heard "an abrupt decrease in engine noise," as if throttled back, and it was making a "low idle sound." He saw the airplane, with its landing gear down, approximately 200 feet above the ground. Then he observed the landing gear retract. Witness #15 said the airplane was between 200 and 300 feet above the ground, and it appeared to be gliding. He heard no engine noise. He, too, said the landing gear was up.

Witness #7 said the airplane passed directly over his house. It was "quite low, maybe two telephone poles high, about 150 feet." The engine was "sputtering and coughing," then it "quit." Witness #11 said that when the engine "quit," the airplane first climbed, then descended out of sight. Witness # 6, an airline mechanic, said the airplane was flying wings level and "very low," about 300 feet. The airplane rocked slightly, then the right wing dipped down and the airplane "made a hard right" [turn].

Witness #1, 10, and 12 observed the impact. Witness #12 heard the sound of wind and saw the airplane, right wing low, coming through the trees, barely missing a house. The right wing hit a parked semi-truck and the nose section "somersaulted" onto the top of the cab. The airplane then cartwheeled, exploded, and spun clockwise, coming to rest on its belly facing the rig. Shortly thereafter, the truck's tire blew out and the gas cap blew off the right fuel tank. A jet of flame erupted and burned a parked car and pickup truck.

Witness #1 heard a "tremendous crash" and saw the nose in the semi-truck, "maybe a 70 degree angle." The fuselage and wing were in the street. He heard one explosion as he was backing his truck up. There was a second explosion and the airplane "started to cant out towards the street and slowly went to the ground, almost rotating, resting on its belly."

The accident occurred during the hours of daylight in front of 543 S. 9th Street, at a GPS (Global Positioning System) location of 38 degrees, 28.42' north latitude, and 107 degrees, 52'02.039' west longitude. The elevation was 5,820 feet msl.

Crew information

The pilot, age 61, held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating, dated October 25, 1995. He also held a third class airman medical certificate, dated June 10, 2005, with the restriction, "Must wear corrective lenses for near and distant vision." His most recent pilot logbook contained entries from February 29, 2005, to July 1, 2006. It indicated he had logged a total of 440.2 hours, of which 393.2 hours were as pilot-in-command and 6.0 hours in the Beech A36TC. According to his wife, he had owned three other airplanes, and had been flying since 1995. He was an architect, and had offices in Aspen and Telluride.

The flight instructor, age 65, held an airline transport pilot certificate, dated August 27, 2003, with an airplane multiengine land rating, type ratings in the Cessna CE-500, Hawker Siddeley HS-125, LR-Jet (Learjet), and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI-Jet), and commercial privileges in single-engine land airplanes. He also held a flight instructor certificate, dated October 12, 2004, with airplane single/multiengine and instrument ratings, and a ground instructor certificate, dated February 27, 1998, with advanced and instrument ratings. His first class airman medical certificate, dated September 13, 2005, contained the restriction, "Must wear corrective lenses." When he made application for this medical certificate, he estimated he had logged a total of 15,873.9 hours, and 300 hours within the previous 6 months. According to the instructor's wife, he had been flying for 47 years and had recently retired.

Aircraft information

N1800Z (s/n EA-228), a model A36TC, was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1981. It was powered by a Continental TSIO-520-UB6 engine (s/n 809447-R), driving a Hartzell 3-blade, all metal, constant-speed propeller (m/n PHC-C3YF-1RF). Engine TBO (time-between-overhaul) was 1,600 hours.

According to the aircraft's maintenance records recovered from the wreckage, the last annual inspection of the airframe, engine (100-hour), and propeller was on February 1, 2006, at a tachometer time of 2,937.5 hours. At that time, the engine had accrued 147.8 hours since it was factory-remanufactured on November 29, 2003. The propeller had accrued 147.8 hours since it was last overhauled on January 5, 2004, and 2,789.7 hours time-in-service. The ELT (emergency locator transmitter) battery was also replaced (expiration February 2008). The last altimeter, encoder, transponder, and pitot-static system tests for IFR operations was made on July 4, 2004. The oxygen sys