History of Flight
On June 13, 2017, about 2210 mountain daylight time, a Beech E90, N48TA, impacted terrain during initial climb after takeoff from runway 24 at Sierra Blanca Regional Airport (SRR), Ruidoso, New Mexico. The commercial pilot and the passenger sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The airplane was registered to King Industries Corporation and operated by the pilot under 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight. Dark night visual meteorological conditions prevailed. An instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight originating at SRR and destined for Abilene Regional Airport (ABI), Abilene, Texas.
The flight plan was filed at 2155 and listed a proposed departure time of 2320 from SRR. The planned flight to ABI was 1 hour 5 minutes, and the fuel on board was 2 hours 50 minutes.
According to the pilot's wife, on the day of the accident, their oldest son played in a championship baseball game. After the game, the family drove to the airport, arriving about 2130. She said her husband performed all preflight checks and then he and their son boarded. She said he did an engine runup by the hangar; everything sounded good. The airplane then taxied to runway 24.
She reported that the airplane lifted off about halfway down the runway, with plenty of runway remaining for a possible landing. She said the airplane was airborne by the time it passed her truck, and everything sounded normal. She did not see flames or smoke. She lost sight of the airplane as it climbed out because her truck was parked by a hangar, blocking her view. She did not see the accident.
The wreckage was located by first responders about 2,400 ft southeast from the departure end of runway 24.
Personnel Information
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single- and multi-engine land and instrument ratings, and a mechanic certificate. At his last medical examination on March 25, 2015, he reported 400 total hours with no hours in the previous 6 months. His second-class medical certificate had no limitations.
On an aviation insurance application dated January 31, 2017, he listed total flight experience of 1,073 hours including 197.1 hours in multi-engine land airplanes, 10 hours of instrument flight experience, and 25 hours of turbine flight experience. The application did not have an entry for night flight time.
Between February 10 and February 17, 2017, the pilot completed 25.0 hours of BE-90 initial flight training provided by Aviation Group Florida, LLC.
The pilot's wife stated that he got up about 0700 to 0730 on the accident day and went to his office. She did not know what time he went to work. He typically slept from about 2130 to 2200 and woke at 0700 to 0730.
Aircraft Information
On February 3, 2017, the airplane was sold to King Industries Corporation by Aviation Group Florida, LLC. An aircraft registration application was signed by the pilot, whose title was Vice President, on that date.
Meteorological Information
According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, on June 13, 2017, moon rise in Ruidoso was at 2323; the moon was waning gibbous with 85% of its visible disk illuminated.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The accident site was about 2,400 ft southeast of the departure end of runway 24 at an elevation of about 6,756 ft. The wreckage path was on a southeasterly heading and about 168 ft long. Terrain from northwest to southeast was upsloping, with soot and fire damage to ground and surrounding trees. The northwest end had broken trees with a downward slope of about 20° toward the left (looking southeast). The left wingtip was near the broken trees. The outboard section of the right wing was about midway along the path, to the right side. Remaining wing sections and control surfaces lay along the path. The fuselage and empennage were at the southeast end.
Both propellers separated from the engines and rested along the debris path. They exhibited S-shaped bending, leading edge damage, and chordwise scratching consistent with engine power at impact. Postaccident examination revealed witness marks indicating about a 30° blade angle, consistent with mid-range power. None of the blades were feathered.
Postaccident disassembly of both engines revealed impact and fire damage. Compressor and turbine sections showed circumferential contact damage of the disks. No mechanical anomalies were found that would have precluded normal operation.
Cockpit avionics, flight instruments, and control panel switches were destroyed by impact and fire. The landing gear was found retracted.
Flight control cables showed overload separations. The left outboard wing flap was retracted; remaining flaps were separated from the wings.
Medical and Pathological Information
The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center conducted an autopsy of the pilot; the cause of death was blunt trauma.
The FAA's Bioaeronautical Sciences Research Laboratory performed forensic toxicology on pilot specimens. According to the report, carbon monoxide and cyanide testing were not performed; no ethanol was detected; ibuprofen was detected in muscle.