22 Mar 2015: BEECH B23

22 Mar 2015: BEECH B23 (N7628R) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Flagstaff, AZ, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On March 22, 2015, about 1115 mountain standard time, a Beech B23, N7628R, veered off runway 21 during the landing rollout at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, Arizona. The private pilot/owner operated the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a local area personal flight. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area flight, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight departed FLG about 1050.

According to the pilot, just prior to rotation for takeoff, the nose wheel seemed to turn left slightly, rudder input maintained a straight path on the runway centerline, but the nose wheel side skidded for a few seconds before he rotated. They flew for about an hour and then returned to the airport for a full stop landing. The pilot stated that touchdown was smooth and uneventful. During the landing rollout, the nose wheel turned slightly left, and he corrected for the condition with full right rudder. He felt that the right rudder bungee did not have enough pull to stop the nose wheel from continuing to turn more sharply to the left. The pilot applied right brake, but was not able to correct the turn to the left. The airplane tipped up on its nose wheel and right main landing gear, which caused the nose wheel to turn more to the left. The pilot applied full power and elevator to reduce the weight off the nose wheel in an attempt to turn it to the right. The right wing struck a precision approach path indicator (PAPI) box, and the pivot tube on the left wing caught the top of another PAPI box. After coming to a stop, the pilot and passenger exited the airplane.

Flagstaff airport reported wind from 230 degrees at 13 knots gusting to 20 knots.

The airplane was inspected by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, with no mechanical anomalies identified.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot
  • Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 230/13kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.