SEA93FA002 · Beech N35
Aeronautical Services Beech N35 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Friday Harbor, WA
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA93FA002
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech N35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N885R
- Operator
- Aeronautical Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Friday Harbor, WA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/spin
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, excessive
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
- Propeller system/accessories, hub › Failure, partial
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT MADE LOUD RHYTHMIC NOISES DURING TAKEOFF. IT REACHED THE END OF THE RUNWAY AT A LOW ALTITUDE ABOVE THE GROUND IN AN INITIAL CLIMB WHEN THE ENGINE SOUNDS DECREASED, THE LANDING GEAR WAS EXTENDED AND THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A STEEP TURN BACK TO THE AIRPORT. THE NOSE DROPPED DURING THE TURN, AND THE AIRCRAFT DESCENDED NOSE DOWN, IMPACTED THE GROUND AND IGNITED IN FLAMES. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED A PARTIALLY SEPARATED PROPELLER CYLINDER HUB BALANCE RING. EXAMINATION OF THE PROPELLER REVEALED ONE CYLINDER MOUNTING SCREW WAS MISSING AND FOUR MOUNTING SCREWS CONTAINED FATIGUE CRACKING. THERE WAS A CLEARED AREA OFF THE END OF THE TAKEOFF RUNWAY AND A LARGE, LEVEL PASTURE BEYOND THE CLEARED AREA.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF SCREWS ON THE PROPELLER HUB DURING TAKEOFF, THE IMPROPER INFLIGHT DECISION BY THE PILOT TO RETURN FOR LANDING, AND THE STEEP, EXCESSIVE BANK ANGLE WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL/SPIN AND LOSS OF CONTROL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA93FA002
- Event ID
- 20001211X15957
- Case number
- SEA93FA002
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 44578646c8daee8368a541902f62652baff5839d937bd46a0481677f6ab02b51; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:53:24.203Z.