- Date
- January 18, 1992, 13:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Nucla, CO
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3342VBeech 35
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 9, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19920118004779A
- Case key
- 18145
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
Improper static balance of the ruddervators following rebuilding/repainting, which resulted in empennage flutter.
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
Flutter of the empennage occurred during a cruise-descent in smooth air. This resulted in cracks in all 4 corners of the aft fuselage bulkhead and wrinkling of the fuselage skin in the area of the ruddervator attachment points. The left ruddervator had been installed on the airplane during an annual inspection several weeks before the accident, after it was removed to have new skin installed. The surface was repainted, and the paint thickness exceeded the manufacturer's factory acceptance criteria. Post-accident testing disclosed the static balance of both ruddervators to be excessively tail heavy. No lead balancing washers were found in either ruddervator counterweight housing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3342V
- Reported as
- Beech 35
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- D-805
- Airframe hours
- 4,081
- Engine
- Continental E-205-8, 225 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Richards, James D.
- Registered owner
- Richards, James D.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 10, 1992 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- 6V6 · Nucla, CO
- Destination
- APA · Englewood, CO
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
- 34
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 550 total · 75 in this make and model · 500 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 27 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.