- Date
- February 8, 1991, 16:20 local (20:20 UTC)
- Place
- St. Thomas
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7278RBeech 58
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 32820
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
Excessive descent rate by the pilot, improper recovery from the bounced landing, and failure to recover from the porpoise condition.
Analysis
The acft was observed on a flat apch. Bounce after touchdown, then land on the nose landing gear. The acft then porpoised a minimum of 4 times before remaining on the ground.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7278R
- Reported as
- Beech 58
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TH-582
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-C7, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Heath, Alfred O
- Registered owner
- Heath, Alfred O
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- STX · St. Croix
- Airport
- STT · Cyril E. King, runway 1, 5,348 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 61
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 453 total · 33 in this make and model · 277 as pilot in command · 33 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- STT, 1 nm away
Other investigations on N7278R · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.