- Date
- August 24, 2020, 10:16 local (15:16 UTC)
- Place
- Nashville, TN
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8629MBeech 55
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200824014249A
- Case key
- 101853
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
The pilot's inadvertent feathering of the propellers during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor in the accident was the instructor's failure to fully monitor the pilot's manipulation of the levers in the airplane's non-standard throttle quadrant.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The commercial pilot was on her second flight of multi-engine flight instruction as she completed an approach and flared the airplane for landing. The instructor said his attention was "outside" as he monitored the airplane's height, drift, runway alignment, and guarded the throttles. The airplane suddenly landed hard, bounced back into the air, and did not respond as expected to the instructor's remedial actions. The engines responded to an increase in throttle for a go-around, but there was no corresponding increase in thrust. The airplane drifted to its left, and the instructor chose to close the throttles, and perform a controlled landing. The airplane departed the runway surface and came to rest in the grass infield with substantial damage to the fuselage forward of the cockpit. According to the instructor, there were no deficiencies in the performance and handling of the airplane. The student pilot had experienced a negative habit transfer from her experience in the airplane she was accustomed to flying as the configuration of its throttle quadrant differed from the accident airplane and she had inadvertently reduced (feathered) the propellers rather than reducing the throttles while landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8629M
- Reported as
- Beech 55 (95A55)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TC-498
- Built
- 1963
- Airframe hours
- 5,404.3
- Engines
- Continental IO-470-L, 260 horsepower, reciprocatingContinental IO-470-L, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 2, 2019 · 51 hours before
- Departed
- XNX · Gallatin, TN
- Destination
- BNA · Nashville, TN
- Airport
- BNA · Nashville Intl, runway 20C, 8,001 × 150 ft, concrete
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Auto-pilot, ADS-B
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 307.1 total · 3 in this make and model · 307.1 as pilot in command · 34 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days · 1.2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 23, 2019
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 22,537 total · 29.2 in this make and model · 126 in the last 90 days · 61.7 in the last 30 days · 2.4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- BNA
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 19, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.7 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.