NTSB Releases Factual Report On Texas King Air Tragedy
The plane was departing from Addison Airport when it lost its left engine. The pilot had seconds to get it right, but according to the preliminary data, he didn’t.
The damaged hanger into which the King Air BE-300 crashed in June of 2019, killing all 10 aboard the turboprop twin. (Photo: National Transportation Safety Board)
The NTSB has released a 438-page factual report on the crash of a King Air BE-300 at Addison (Texas) Airport in June of 2019. The King Air had just taken off when it lost its left engine. The pilot responded by saying, "What in the world?" and the copilot responded, "You just lost your left engine." Dead engine, dead foot, is the mneumonic, but the pilot, according to the preliminary report, applied "correction" to the wrong pedal, accelerating the roll into the dead engine and into the ground. The King Air struck a hangar. The pilot, co-pilot and all eight passengers were killed in the crash.
The report raises the question of checklists, which, by his own admission, the pilot was "bad" about using. He also failed to run a weight and balance calculation or performing other checklists as the flight progressed to the takeoff phase.
The NTSB will release its final report at some time in the future. In that report it will state the probable causes of the deadly crash. There are likely to be few surprises.
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