CHI07FA052 · Beech 58
Beech 58 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Daviess County Airport (DCY) to 7K4 · Hartford, KY
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI07FA052
- 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
- 1 · 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 58
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 58
- 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
- N678DC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Daviess County Airport (DCY), Washington, INTo 7K4 · Hartford, KY
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane impacted trees and terrain while attempting to return to the departure airport after takeoff. The pilot of another airplane who witnessed the takeoff reported that the accident airplane's takeoff appeared "normal." After takeoff, he noticed the accident airplane about 1.5 miles from the departure airport. It appeared to be in a 45 to 60-degree bank turn back towards the airport, below the level of a tree line. The accident airplane subsequently struck the tree line and came to rest in an agricultural field. The post accident inspection did not reveal any anomalies associated with a pre-impact failure of the flight control system. In addition, examination of both engines did not reveal any failures or malfunctions consistent with a loss of engine power prior to the accident. Examination of the left alternator indicated that it was unable to provide the rated electrical power. Examination of the right alternator did not reveal any anomalies, and the unit appeared to be functional. According to an acquaintance of the pilot, the accident airplane was en route to a maintenance facility for a routine annual inspection. He noted that the left alternator appeared to be inoperative prior to the accident flight and that the mechanic had been advised to look at it during the inspection. He knew of no other problems with the airplane prior to the accident flight.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from trees and terrain while attempting to return to the departure airport for undetermined reasons after takeoff. The intervening tree line was a contributing factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI07FA052
- Event ID
- 20070110X00035
- Case number
- CHI07FA052
- 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: d66dead296cee4d188bdc6b87ec92d4f44117a15239df993d34a58f337cbd357; retrieved 2026-09-20T16:55:28.100Z.