Flightaware track of N57WR King Air C90A.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a plane crash in Surry County, North Carolina that has Georgia ties.
According to the FAA, six people were on board the airplane when it crashed. All were killed, investigators have confirmed.
The plane’s tail number is N57WR. Its flight path, from FlightAware.com, shows that the plane originated in Polk County, Georgia on its way to Mount Airy.
The FAA’s website shows that the plane is registered to Blue Sky Airways in Dallas, Georgia.
Ted Buckholtz lives near the crash. He told WFMY News 2 he was reading his newspaper in his basement when he heard the crash. He was one of the first two people to approach the wreckage to help the people inside. He said there wasn’t anything they could do. They were “already gone.”
Buckholtz told WFMY News 2’s Jay Rickerts during a phone interview that it looked like the plane was trying to land on the street but missed it. It did not catch fire after the crash.
Buckholtz says there was hunting gear inside the plane.
Awful pics! No post crash fire again.
NTSB ADVISORY************************************************************ National Transportation Safety BoardWashington, DC 20594 February 1, 2008 ************************************************************ TEAM OF INVESTIGATORS RESPOND TO KING AIR ACCIDENT IN NORTH CAROLINA ************************************************************ The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of four to investigate the crash of a Beechcraft King Air in Mount Airy, North Carolina. At about 11:30 a.m. EST today, a twin-engine turboprop (N57WR) on a business flight from Polk County, Georgia, to Mount Airy, North Carolina, crashed in a residential area. All six occupants of the airplane were fatally injured. There were no reports of injuries on the ground. Todd Gunther is the Investigator-in-Charge. Information regarding the investigation will be released from the accident scene in Mount Airy. The team is expected to arrive on-scene this evening. ### NTSB Media Contact:Peter Knudson(202) 314-6100peter.knudson@ntsb.gov
In this case, if the witness report is correct with the plane trying to land, lack of fire doesn’t necessitate lack of fuel if this is what I read out of your response…
To me, the fact you see what looks like all that foamy stuff sprayed on the scene makes me think there was a fuel spill or why else would they spray it?
The plane must have really tumbled pretty good for the fueslage to be as damaged as it is. Usually on landing attempts, from what I have seen, the fuselage remains relatively intact.
Allen
Summary from various sources. Witnesses told local media the King Air missed its first approach to Mount Airy Airport (MWK) and was circling back when the aircraft crashed for as-yet undetermined reasons. “There was a really low fog, it was raining a little bit and an occasional sleet pellet … visibility was more than a 2 1/2 miles.”
The aircraft impacted in a residential area - Janice Drive, east of the airport, off Highway 52.
Missed MWK Instrument Approach Procedures for GPS RWY 36 call for a “climbing left turn to 4000 direct EDLIF WP and hold”
I was at the crash site today for a couple hours. I am not a pilot but will do my best to contribute what I saw.
There was indeed fuel in the tanks and you could smell it everywhere. As the pictures indicate luckily there was no fire as it crashed only 15’ from a house where a mother was at home.
The aircraft struck the ground nose first at a 45 degree angle with wings almost perfectly level. The gear was down and the flaps appeared to be in the down position. Only the tips of the prop could be seen above the ground and the engines were buried well past the leading edge or up to the main gear spar. I was amazed by the force of the impact and how much the front half of the plane (wings forward) had been either completely smashed flat or buried into the front yard of this house. The fuselage broke over the top of the plane and then fell backward almost flat to the ground and the wings broke forward just past the engine cowlings making it look as though the plane had belly landed. The impact threw dirt and clods of grass onto the roof the house and parts of the plane were found approx. 30 feet behind the plane. The parts appeared to be a fragment of the nose gear wheel rim (it was cast aluminum?) as well as the nose gear door which I would imagine came off during the nose impact.
The plane crashed approx. 200-300 yards from the right center line of the RWY 36 which is opposite of the missed approach procedure for MWK. He appeared to be flying an approx heading of 190-210 as if he was attempting to cross back over the field rather than complete the downwind leg and then turn base and final. One eyewitness I spoke with who also saw the impact indicated that the plane was very low and slow (he speculated 150 or just above the tree tops). He also seemed to think he heard something odd with the engine or that one was not running but after he called the engines a diesel I surmised that he probably didnt hear very many turbo prop engines and thus I didnt put much confidence into his opinion regarding the engines, after all almost everything up there is a piston.
NTSB got there and suited up in the blue environmental suits with boots masks and gloves and proceeded to tear into the fuselage. They removed seats and interior panels first, some of which still had a great deal of matter which out of respect for those who perished I wont elaborate on. They began to tag items with small red tags and used small red bags to remove what I could guess was again matter etc. Eventually then they began to remove the seats and tag them as well along with the flight log books, manuals, etc all were tagged. They also located the flight data recorder. When they got the seats and interior panels removed they were then able to see the instrument panel. They began to remove the instruments very slowly one by one. It was really odd because the IP was actually at ground level.so they were standing on the ground reaching down into the nose of the plane and cutting out the gauges with wire cutters and then photographing everything. Everything had to be wiped down with alcohol and then photographed; the gloves on one of the NTSB investigators hands were very red by this time due to again the amount of matter from the crash. Actually not sure if the above information is appropriate or not so if a moderator wants to edit it out I would understand. Just trying to report what I saw. I will say this. I was very impressed with the NTSB investigators. These guys seemed like a group of very professional and seasoned investigators.
From talking to other pilots visiting the crash site as well as eyewitnesses I would surmise the following. Keep in mind that I am not a pilot and have no formal training in crash forensics etc. but here goes anyway…
My speculation is that the pilot stalled the aircraft. Perhaps because he became distracted when he realized he had made the wrong turn out for his missed approach and was trying to steer away from the 3100 obstacle as detailed in the approach plate. After all he was extremely close to the runway to be in a downwind maneuver, perhaps he was trying to get a visual on the field itself and that distracted him? And if the eyewitness was exagerating (150’) on how low he was lets say he was actually 1000’ AGL he would still be well below the 4000 required by the approach plate anyway since MWK elevation is 1247. So he was at 2200 feet and the missed requires 4000?
Either way the facts are:
- Pilot did not execute the missed approach procedure correctly. Turned right instead of left and Did not climb to 4000 and hold.
- Did not maintain sufficient airspeed and most likely stalled the aircraft. Only variable would be a mechanical failure etc.
Anyway for whatever it’s worth those are my thoughts…
thats close to where i live…it was all over the radio 
“Shelton estimated 200 to 300 gallons of airplane fuel spilled from the aircraft shortly after its impact.”
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