| Date: | Friday 25 October 2002 |
| Time: | 10:22 |
| Type: |  Beechcraft A100 King Air |
| Owner/operator: | Aviation Charter |
| Registration: | N41BE |
| MSN: | B-245 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1979 |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-28 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 3,3 km SE of Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, MN (EVM) -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | St. Paul Downtown Airport, MN (STP/KSTP) |
| Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, MN (EVM/KEVM) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
A Beechcraft A100 King Air, N41BE, operated by Aviation Charter, Inc., crashed while the flight crew was attempting to execute the VOR approach to runway 27 at Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, MN (EVM). The two pilots and six passengers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.
The airplane was being operated as an on-demand passenger charter flight to fly U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his staff from St. Paul Downtown Airport, MN (STP) to Eveleth. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
The flight departed St. Paul at 09:37 and climbed to the cruising altitude of 13.000 feet.
At 10:19, the controller stated, "king air one bravo echo change to advisory frequency approved[;] advise cancellation of ifr with the Princeton flight service when on the ground." The co-pilot acknowledged the instruction. This was the last transmission received by ATC from the accident airplane. Radar data indicate that at this time, the airplane began its descent from 3,500 feet and that its airspeed stopped decreasing about 155 KCAS and began increasing.
The airplane's airspeed increased to about 170 KCAS and its vertical speed increased through 1,000 feet per minute (fpm) as it descended through 3,200 feet.
The airspeed stabilized briefly at about 170 KCAS and the vertical speed peaked at about 1,400 fpm. At 10:20, as the airplane passed through (south of) the approach course about 5 miles east of the runway 27 threshold, a slight right turn was initiated, and the airplane's airspeed and vertical speed began decreasing. The airplane established on a ground track of about 269° and maintained this track. The last two radar returns indicate that the airplane had slowed to about 76 KCAS at 1,800 feet.
The airplane impacted the ground about 1.8 miles southeast of the approach end of runway 27.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The flight crew's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which they did not recover."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 24 October 2002 | N41BE | Aviation Charter Inc. | Eveleth, Minnesota | |
w/o |
Location
Images:
photo (c) NTSB; Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, MN (EVM); 25 October 2002; (publicdomain)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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