Accident Overview
On July 6, 2025, about 1345 mountain daylight time, a Beech F35, registration N5009B, was destroyed in an accident near Eagle Nest, New Mexico. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
Flight Preparation
The pilot resided in Eagle Nest but worked in the Hobbs area of southern New Mexico. His routine was to fly home every three weeks, landing at Angel Fire Airport (AXX). On July 4, he made the trip home for the holiday. He planned to return to Hobbs on July 6. Because it was a Sunday and the fixed-base operator was closing early, he returned to refuel the airplane in the morning, asking the lineman to fill the tanks to capacity; 28 gallons of fuel were added.
The pilot returned to the airport just after noon with family members. After loading, he departed about 1330. According to the pilot's wife, when they arrived, the airport was surrounded to the north, east, and west by towering storm clouds, and the south was obscured by a wall of grey clouds. She became concerned that the weather would not be safe for flight, but the pilot stated he could monitor it with his ForeFlight application and would return if it became dangerous.
Witnesses observed the pilot working on the nose gear prior to departure. The pilot's wife stated this was not unusual, as the nose gear strut had developed a leak and he would often service it with air. She observed the takeoff to the north and reported it was uneventful.
Departure and Weather
Angel Fire Airport is situated within a 5-mile-wide valley at an elevation of 8,380 ft msl, bounded by mountain peaks reaching 11,721 ft to the east and 13,161 ft to the west. According to family, after departure the pilot typically flew to the Eagle Nest Dam just to the north and followed Cimarron Canyon through to the lower plains about 20 miles east, then south to Hobbs.
Due to the terrain surrounding the airport, no radar coverage was available. Review of the airplane's flight history indicated its ADS-B system was not operating consistently during the months leading to the accident.
Search and Wreckage
Family members became concerned when the pilot did not arrive in Hobbs later that day, and an alert notice (ALNOT) was issued with the FAA. The airplane was located two days later, about 10 miles northeast of AXX.
The airplane came to rest on a 30° slope at an elevation of 9,932 ft msl at the end of a box canyon, about 500 ft below and 2 miles west of Cimarroncito Peak. The area consisted of loose rock and tightly spaced pine and aspen trees about 75 ft tall. All primary structure and flight control surfaces were accounted for within a 50 ft diameter of the main wreckage.
The first identified point of impact was to the tops of three trees, whose crowns were severed by about 5 ft. Bark was stripped from the south and west faces, with fragments of wing skins at their bases. The outboard section of the left wing was lodged in the branches of one tree. A 10 ft wide, 18-inch-deep ground disruption containing both propeller blades was located about 25 ft northeast of the first impact point. The tail section came to rest on top of the disruption, with the cabin and right wing just to the north. Except for the left wing in the tree and the outboard section of the right wing, almost the entire airplane had been consumed by fire, leaving only steel remnants and burnt aluminum and plastic fragments.