Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On April 3, 2005, approximately 1450 mountain daylight time, a Beech E55, N3FJ, piloted by a private pilot, was destroyed when it departed controlled flight during an aborted (balked) landing or attempted go-around and impacted a parking lot and industrial building adjacent to the Fort Collins Downtown Airport (3V5), Fort Collins, Colorado. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The local personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was fatally injured. The flight originated approximately 1420.

The pilot had told his wife he was going to go fly. She reminded him they were having dinner with friends. He said he would be gone for about an hour.

There were several witnesses who either saw or heard the airplane as it flew towards the airport. They said the engines were "running rough" (witnesses 1 and 5), "cutting out" (witness 2), "backfiring and sputtering" (witnesses 3 and 4), and flying level between 200 and 300 feet (witness 5) or 400 feet (witness 4). Witness 6, a flight instructor who had just taken off from the airport, said he heard the pilot report entering the traffic pattern. He said the pilot's voice was "calm, routine."

Some witnesses said the airplane was landing; others thought it had just taken off. Witness 15 said the airplane was "way too low not to be landing," and was "quieter" than it had been when she saw it take off 30 minutes before. Others said the airplane was "high and extremely fast" (witnesses 8, 9, and 10). Witness 10, a flight school employee, observed the airplane throughout its landing approach. He said it "was high and hot, 100 kts+, approaching mid-field, (1) engine was windmilling, the other running OK." Asked which engine was windmilling, the employee said he was not sure. The airplane passed behind some buildings and his view was blocked, but he heard the engine "spool up for a go-around. I knew he was in trouble because of his high speed at mid-field and the fact of only (1) engine running." When the employee sighted the airplane again, it "hit the ground and exploded into a big fire ball and was followed by a lot of black smoke."

Other witnesses said the airplane was taking off. Witness 7 said the airplane was having "engine trouble, sputtering," as it was taking off. Witness 11, a student pilot who was preflighting his airplane on the ramp, stopped to watched "the Baron departing runway 11." He wrote, "As the airplane was gaining altitude, it began to bank to the left . . . The bank continued to about 80 degrees to the left. At about 100-150 feet, the tail seemed to slip to the right and the plane banked further left and went inverted. The plane went into the building inverted and pointing slightly to the left."

Other witnesses, who were stopped at traffic lights or driving near the airport perimeter, saw the airplane "twist to one side and then spiral s