What happened
During a night flight in visual meteorological conditions, a twin-engine aircraft crashed approximately 2.5 miles north of its departure airport. Prior to the accident, the pilot had returned to the airfield after an earlier attempt to depart, reporting a right engine fire warning light. Although maintenance personnel could not replicate the issue, the aircraft was cleared for takeoff.
Roughly 23 minutes into the flight, the pilot contacted air traffic control to request a return to the departure airport to investigate a technical concern. During this return, the aircraft passed over four different airports. Radar data showed the airplane flying over the departure end of runway 35 at 1,600 feet AGL before initiating a descending left turn. As the aircraft crossed the final approach course for runway 35, its altitude had dropped to approximately 800 feet AGL.
Instead of following the runway centerline, the aircraft flew a path parallel to the runway, roughly 0.8 nm to the right. The aircraft continued a northerly heading and a steady descent, with airspeed dropping from 130 kts to 110 kts in the final minute of flight. The last radar contact indicated an altitude of 200 feet AGL. The aircraft subsequently struck an earthmoving scraper and terrain, resulting in one fatality (implied by destruction/impact context, though specific count not provided, the aircraft was destroyed). Witnesses observed a low-speed, extremely low-altitude flight followed by a large explosion.
Findings
Post-crash inspections revealed that the landing gear was retracted. While the left engine showed signs of operation at impact, the right engine was found to have been shut down with a feathered propeller. Investigators discovered that the right engine fire detection loop had surface contamination, which caused an intermittent signal and produced the false fire warning light reported by the pilot.
The pilot's failure to land at the departure runway or other available airports during the emergency descent was the primary factor in the accident, alongside the failure to maintain clearance from terrain and the earthmoving vehicle.