Beechcraft Queen Air Stall and Crash

This wasn't a stall.  In dual engine aircraft, when one engine fails there is a minimum control speed, known as VMC.  If the aircraft goes below its VMC speed with one engine dead it will lose directional control, the rudder becomes useless and the plane will enter a downward spin caused by VMC roll, the running engine creates a lot of induced lift on its wing, where the dead engine produces no lift on its wing, causing the roll/spin.  The pilot was probably preoccupied with trying to restart the dead engine and didn't notice his loss of airspeed until he was below the VMC speed.  Recovering from VMC is possible, but this Queen Air was too close to the ground to recover.   

I have been in a Queen Air which suffered engine failure in the left engine. I worked for a seismic crew in the early 80s and staff were flown to and from Moomba in Australia's Cooper Basin from Brisbane Airport. On this particular flight from Moomba back to Brisbane I was in the copilot's seat - only one pilot was used and passengers used to go for the copilot's seat first because of the extra leg room. It's a long flight from Moomba to Brisbane in a Queen Air -about five hours. About half an hour out of Moomba the pilot commented to me that he thought the left engine had dropped a valve. He lowered the power on that engine, increased it to the right engine and retrimmed the plane. Then about half an hour out of Brisbane the left engine stopped completely. This required a change of flight plan to land at Archerfield (smaller airport near Brisbane where the workshops were). We had the smoothest landing I ever experienced in all the flights I took on the Queen Air. Hats off to the pilot.

When you're in the situation, sometimes it's hard to remember the simple principle that "Your aircraft can stall at any airspeed and any attitude."

There's another video of this crash on youtube, it's a longer version. Early in, you can hear the popping misfire of the left engine, then it stops for about 8 seconds, then starts up again until the crash. It seems as though he focussed on trying to address the malfunctioning left engine (it shut down, he'd restarted it) and whilst trying to sort the engine failure inadvertantly allowed the plane to get below Vmc. Very sad for the lives lost.

The proper procedure (I'm a multi-engine rated pilot) in that situation (loss of engine and unable to maintain Vmc) is to pull the remaining good engine to idle and dead-stick it wherever you can. Dead stick landing even into rough terrain is better than a spin.

For those who still dont get it. Glide range in still air is equal to the L/D ratio x height at which the glide started . Glide range is the most when gliding at a speed in which lift to drag ratio is highest (Vmd). Changes to weight will change Vmd but won't change the L/D ratio at Vmd. If the glide speed is adjusted to any changes in weight, a weight change won't affect the best glide range.

Wow, a Queen Air is what I did my multi training in. A big, non-conventional twin for basic training, but we all loved it b/c of it's size & speed. The lady in charge of Navarro College's flight program then owned the Queen Air & school couldn't afford one, so we had no choice if we wanted multi. This appears like he turned into the dead or failing engine & was already at or below VMC, but just my opinion. What a tragic accident. Twins require much focus, but it's loads of fun with two fans!

This is why you don't ever climb out below VMC.

He made the mistake you learn about in flight school on day one...

Where's Bob Hoover when you really need him?

Turning into a dead engine at low speed is a very dangerous thing to do

Tried to turn back before getting completely under control.  Big mistake.  Prospective pilots...,lesson learned.  There may be times you are going to have to crash land no matter what you do.  Therefore, if you can't climb out of your situation, the best you can hope for is a CONTROLLED crash straight ahead rather than attempt to maneuver out of your situation.

Very tragic, 13 people were killed in this accident.

Looked to me that he was already below VMC which put him into the left turn and roll. He ignored the first three rules... fly the airplane, fly the airplane, fly the airplane. You can see the right aileron down against the roll. Jim

Rule #1 Never be too low and slow at the same time

Yes, and that's why you better have it thought out BEFORE you start the engines. This accident did not start in the air. It started on the ground and finished there.

i'm a single engine recip pilot and have always hated doing stalls with ANY bank even at 4000ft. even though i have spin recovery training. what should this pilot have done exactly? (no twin training here, but i want to know). also, if he were flying a single what should they have done? i was shocked how quickly this thing spun inverted! and Beech twins are supposed to be docile. this is docile for a twin? jesus then what would have happened in an Aerostar?! or an MU-2?!

That's why you stay above the blue line.

Classic VMC roll. Is that one of the engines I hear "popping"?

The engines on Queenaires are very touchy and I've had to react to at least seven emergencies flying one. The weak link in the chain leading to a stall spin is always the pilot. Every flight must begin with an answer to this question, "What'll I do when an engine misfires or quits?"