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MIA03LA163 · Beech 400A

18 Aug 2003 · St. Augustine, FL, United States

Executive Beechcraft Beech 400A · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff

From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ) to Hickory Regional Airport (KHKY)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA03LA163
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
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
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 400A

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 400
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
N51NP
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ), St. Augustine, FLTo Hickory Regional Airport (KHKY), Hickory, NC
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
Takeoff · roll/run
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
Loss of control on ground/water
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Copilot/second pilot › Brakes(normal), inadvertent
  • Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, delayed

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The copilot who had 60.4 hours total time in make and model, was seated in the left seat and was flying pilot for the part 91 positioning flight. An intersection departure was performed which provided 6,300 feet of usable runway for takeoff. The copilot was unsure how to release the parking brake before the flight was cleared for takeoff; the PIC had to instruct him how to do so. During the takeoff roll on runway 31 with a 4-knot wind from 240 degrees, the CVR recorded the PIC to state "V1", followed one second later by "rotate." Approximately 1 second later, the CVR recorded the copilot to state "whoa", followed by the cockpit area microphone recording an unidentified squealing sound. The PIC stated that the airplane turned abruptly 30 degrees to the left, and he initiated the aborted takeoff. He applied the brakes, reduced thrust, and applied both thrust reversers. In an attempt to maintain directional control, he and the copilot applied right rudder input and pumped the right brake, but the airplane departed the left side of the runway about 2,000 feet from the departure end of the runway. One of the main landing gears contacted an arresting cable, and the airplane continued onto grass. The anti-skid system tested OK before takeoff; and was on for takeoff. The PIC further stated the left main landing gear tire had good tread remaining prior to the flight. The left main landing gear tire was flat spotted. A 2,000 foot-long skid mark to the left of the runway centerline began approximately 1,850 feet from the point where the takeoff roll began. Examination of the left brake, both brake mixing valves, left and right wheelspeed transducers, power brake valve, control unit, and both parking brake valves revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction that would have resulted in left brake application. The company pilots are trained to utilize challenge/response to checklist items. Review of the CVR and the procedures listed in the airplane's "Before Starting Engines", "Starting Engines", "Before Taxi", "Taxi", and "Before Takeoff" checklists revealed none of the 5 checklists were verbally completed, and none of the checklists were completed at all with respect to challenge/response. Approximately 8 seconds elapsed from the time a squealing sound was heard on the CVR to the time when the copilot advised the PIC to "power off", which clarified his previous comment "hit it, hit it."

Probable cause

The inadvertent left brake application by the copilot during the takeoff roll and the delay by the pilot-in-command to abort the takeoff resulting in a loss of directional control, and on-ground encounter with terrain.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA03LA163
Event ID
20030822X01383
Case number
MIA03LA163
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, coordinates. 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: 2f2b072b070cd59525e1d6a9c48b2975f17e3cf4a30c317b22685da0a4d48dd0; retrieved 2026-09-22T08:43:33.139Z.