Fayard Enterprises

Beechcraft 90 King Air

The pilot stated that after parachutists egressed from the airplane, he returned to the airport and found that he did not have a green down-and-locked indication for the left main landing gear. He stated that he executed emergency procedures and did two fly-bys over the runway. Ground personnel stated that the landing gear appeared to be down-and-locked. During the landing roll, the airplane began to slide side-ways, and the right main landing gear began to collapse and eventually separated from the airplane. The left main gear also collapsed as the airplane slid to a stop. After the accident, the upper torque knee on the left main landing gear was found broken. The failure mode of the upper torque knee was not determined.

Beechcraft 90 King Air

The pilot had made a refueling stop at Vandalia, Illinois. She did not observe the refueling process, but the FBO also operated a King Air and she felt he knew the proper procedure to follow. The airplane was reportedly serviced with 235 gallons of Jet-A fuel (total capacity is 384 gallons). The pilot flew between 7,500 and 10,500 feet. When the airplane was 45 minutes from its destination, the fuel transfer pump lights illuminated, indicating the wing tanks were empty. The nacelle tank gauges registered 3/4 full and the pilot determined she had sufficient fuel to complete the flight. When the airplane was three minutes from its destination, both engines flamed out and the pilot made a wheels up forced landing. When the salvage company recovered the airplane, they reported finding no evidence of fuel aboard. The pilot was provided and used performance charts for the Beech 65-A90 instead of the Beech B90.

Beechcraft 90 King Air

The pilot was taking off with 10 jumpers onboard. At the rotation speed of 100 knots, he used elevator trim to rotate the airplane, but it did not lift off the runway. He continued moving the trim wheel violently to pitch the nose up, and attempted to pull back on the yoke, but the airplane collided with rising terrain off the end of the runway. A witness did not see any of the flight controls move during the pilot preflight inspection, and during the takeoff roll, he did not observe a nose up rotation of the airplane. The pilot reported that he removed a single pin control lock from the yoke during preflight. The Beech control lock consisted of two pins, two chains, and a U-shaped engine control lock. The pilot walked away from the wreckage after the accident. No control locks were found in the wreckage. However, the control column shaft exhibited distress signatures on the periphery of the hole where the control lock is installed. No other evidence was found of any other form of mechanical jamming, interference, or discontinuity with the flight controls. Investigators were unable to identify any potential source of interference, other than a control lock, that could have simultaneously jammed both pitch and roll control. According to the airplane's manufacturer, about 3 to 6 degree of trim would have been normal for the airplane's takeoff conditions.

Beechcraft 65 Queen Air

The pilot reported that shortly after takeoff on a parachute jumping flight the left engine lost power, but a second later power was restored. Soon afterwards a total power loss occurred. According to the pilot, the propeller stopped rotating and did not windmill. He did not feather the left propeller. He made a shallow left turn toward an open field, while trying to return to the airport. He was unable to maintain adequate airspeed or altitude, and in order to maintain aircraft control, he reduced power on the right engine. He made a forced landing in a wheat field. The airplane came to a stop and all occupants escaped the airplane before it caught fire. The examination of the airplane did not disclose evidence of mechanical malfunction.