Big Bear, California, is a resort town 6,700 feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains, known for recreation on its large alpine lake and in the surrounding pine forests. On May 1, 2023, a pilot flying his 1979 Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, with two friends on board, was headed to the Big Bear City Airport (L35) to check out a Cessna 150 for sale on the field.
It was early afternoon on a bright, sunny day. The sky was clear, save for some high cirrus. It was a pleasant 55 degrees, although it felt cooler due to some gusty winds. Inbound from the south, the single-engine, retractable-gear Beechcraft entered an uneventful downwind leg for Runway 26.
Moments later, the airplane crashed. The Bonanza lay crumpled up in an empty lot just 2,400 feet from the approach end of the runway. All three occupants were killed on impact.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has now released its final report on this accident. Fuel is not mentioned. The engine was running normally. And the pilot didn’t plan to land in the open-looking lot, because of a landing gear issue. In fact, there were no mechanical issues, no medical issues, and no emergency on downwind or base. Using ADS-B data from several sources, with careful analysis of video and eyewitness evidence, the NTSB presents a quite different picture of the flight’s last few minutes.
After a shallow turn from downwind, the Bonanza was positioned on base at a proper altitude and airspeed and with a constant descent rate. The wind at the surface was reported as 220 degrees at 6 knots gusting 19 knots. NTSB weather data analysis determined the wind at 7,500 feet (about 700 feet above the runway) was from 210 degrees at 17 knots—a healthy tailwind for base leg. The pilot continued the turn to final but overshot the extended runway centerline.
There were other factors combining to cause the overshoot. While it wasn’t a particularly hot day, Big Bear’s density altitude was reported as 8,200 feet, resulting in a higher true airspeed compared to indicated airspeed. Increasing true airspeed makes the turn radius wider, resulting in an overshoot. Also, the downwind leg was not quite parallel to the runway but gently drifted closer to the airport, resulting in less room to maneuver for the base leg. The misalignment would become obvious to the pilot once the Bonanza faced the runway.
The plane was a mile from the runway and about 500 feet to the right of the extended centerline, with a wind from the left pushing it farther right. Not ideal, but not hopeless. All pilots have been there. An immediate strong correction to the left might have salvaged the approach. Or the pilot could have added power and gone around.
This was not an inexperienced pilot. He had been flying for 25 years, logging 2,000 flight hours, half of them in this Bonanza. His wife told a Los Angeles TV station that he would “literally go out and fly in windy days by himself and bad weather just so he would get better at it and know how to land if the wind was blowing a certain way. He always wanted to be the best at everything he did.” Yet despite his experience, he did not attempt to correct the approach.
The plane continued descending and slowing. He corrected to the left, but it wasn’t enough to counter the crosswind, so the plane got no closer to the extended centerline. In fact, it drifted farther away.
At 200 feet above the ground, and still 600 feet away from the centerline, the pilot increased the turn to the left. But the plane was now so slow that the increased angle of attack created by the lowered right aileron caused that wing to stall. The Bonanza abruptly rolled to the right, briefly went wings level, then entered an uncontrolled descent to the ground.
The NTSB report blamed the accident on the pilot being off the centerline and entering a stall during an over correction to the left in gusting conditions… The NTSB docket contains a 44-page report on weather conditions at Big Bear: “Thermodynamic and wind profiles…supported mountain wave activity, including updrafts and downdrafts near the accident site.” Forecasting models suggest a “hydraulic jump” could produce considerable turbulence.
The investigation noted that the National Weather Service issued an urgent weather advisory for strong and gusty winds about 30 minutes before the accident plane took off. It’s unknown if the pilot received this advisory. There was no record of the pilot using Leidos Flight Service or ForeFlight for any weather briefings that day.
The “secret” to making a stable approach to landing is making small corrections early—but making larger corrections right now if needed. It’s a constant dynamic game all pilots play. Where is the wind? How will it change down to the ground? Am I drifting left or right? Am I high or low? Fast or slow? And it’s all so much harder in turbulence.
The white circle on the flight path graphic shows the position of the Bonanza right before the stall break. Using an X-Plane 12 simulator (version 12.1.4 on a Mac Studio with California scenery upgrades and an A36 plugin), I entered all the parameters from the NTSB report. The image with this story is a computer representation of that moment. The PAPI shows four red lights. The plane is angled toward the runway but considerably off track. It’s just above stall speed.
Sitting at home, looking at this on my monitor, it’s clear the landing could not be saved. The safe path, a powered go-around, seems obvious. The pilot didn’t see it. A fraction of a second later, instead of adding power, he attempted another correction. The control inputs for a left turn stalled the right wing. Physics tumbled the aircraft the last two hundred feet.
