7 Nov 2022: BEECH E-90 — Air Reldan, Inc.

7 Nov 2022: BEECH E-90 (N809DM) — Air Reldan, Inc.

No fatalities • Slidell, LA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control during an attempted go-around in low visibility conditions.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On November 6, 2022, about 2145 central standard time, a Beech E-90, N809DM, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident at Slidell Airport (ASD), Slidell, Louisiana. The pilot sustained serious injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight. According to air traffic control information, the airplane departed John C. Tune Airport (JWN), Nashville, Tennessee, and climbed to a cruise altitude of 22,000 ft. The airplane descended to ASD, the pilot’s home airport, and a visual approach was flown that the pilot discontinued due to ground fog. The pilot received an instrument flight rules clearance and flew the RNAV (GPS) RWY 36 approach that he also discontinued due to ground fog. After executing a missed approach, the pilot flew another RNAV (GPS) RWY 36 approach, during which the airplane impacted terrain about 800 ft right of the departure end of Runway 36. The pilot egressed the airplane without assistance. The airplane initially impacted trees with the right wing (see Figure 1). The main wreckage came to rest upright and was consumed by a post-impact fire. The postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no preimpact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

Figure 1. Wreckage Diagram, Courtesy of Textron Aviation ASD was equipped with an Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS). At 2153, the ADS ASOS observation was wind calm, visibility 5 statute miles in mist, ceiling overcast at 400 ft above ground level (agl), temperature 19°C and dew point 18°C. At 2135, the closest weather reporting station about 12 miles northeast of ASD reported wind calm, visibility 1/4 mile in fog, ceiling overcast at 200 ft agl, temperature 20°C, and dew point temperature 20°C. Several other weather stations in the vicinity reported low ceilings and visibilities, with fog forming over the area. There were no pilot weather reports (PIREPs) within 60 miles of ASD in the national database from 1700 through 2400. The pilot reported that, during the last attempted approach, he initiated a go-around after losing sight of visual references due to ground fog. He observed the right engine was slower to accelerate than the left engine during the go-around, and that he was distracted looking at the engine indications. He reported that he did not notice if the airplane yawed to the right, and before he could correct for the altitude loss, the airplane descended into the trees. Other pilots who flew the airplane reported the right engine’s acceleration was sometimes slower than the left engine. The director of maintenance had performed a timed engine run and found the right engine acceleration time was slower than the left engine, but within the normal range of the maintenance manual.

Contributing factors

  • Pilot
  • Pilot
  • Pitch control — Not attained/maintained
  • Yaw control — Not attained/maintained
  • Effect on operation
  • Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
IMC, vis 5sm

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.