Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bentonville, Arkansas 72712
Monday, April 13, 1998 10:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that the airplane was just leveling off after a descent of 700 feet. The wind was light in smooth air. The airplane was in a 15 degree angle of bank right turn, 1 to 2 degrees nose down attitude, and at 180 mph. The airspeed was in the middle of the yellow arc. The pilot reported the airplane began to shake violently like a rivet gun hitting against the fuselage, or like a machine gun. He said the vibrations reverberated throughout his body. He did not feel any vibrations in the controls. He pushed over on the control column after about three seconds of vibration. The vibration stopped. An uneventful landing was made. The aircraft inspection revealed cracks in the upper two corners of the FS 256.9 bulkhead. The forward spar of the right ruddervator was broken. A crack had proceeded through the top spar flange and had worked its way down to the bottom flange but stopped about 1/4 inch prior to reaching a rivet hole. The center hinge had broken and a 8.5 inch skin tear was evident on the top surface of the ruddervator. The ruddervators were properly balanced. The inspection revealed no maintenance anomalies. The FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive 98-13-02 on July 7, 1998, restricting the airspeed to 144 mph on Beech 35, A35,and B35 airplanes. The aircraft manufacturer issued a Service Bulletin 27-3358 in February 2000, which required an extensive inspection of empennage components, and it changed the ruddervator underbalance from 16.8 to 19.8 inch pounds to 16.8 to 18.0 inch pounds in order to lift the speed restriction.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the damage to the empennage was due to flutter.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/13/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | BENTONVILLE |
| Event State | ARKANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 72712 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Unknown |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 175 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FYV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1251 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 17 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 23 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1942 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 16 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5246C |
| NTSB Number | CHI98LA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | B35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | B35 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-2638 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 21 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 21 |
| Airframe Hours | 6486 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES H. STEWART |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 300 INNISFREE CIRCLE K-3 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ROGERS |
| Aircraft Owner State | AR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 72758 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ASC |
| Departure City | SPRINGDALE |
| Departure State | AR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 925 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HOO |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |