Bemidji Aviation Services Beech 65-A80-8800 accident
Beech 65-A80-8800 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (KMSP)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN21LA101
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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 65-A80-8800
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 65
- 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
- N134BA
- Operator
- Bemidji Aviation Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (KMSP), Minneapolis, MN
- Aircraft age
- About 56 years (built 1964)
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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 in flight
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the takeoff was conducted below the airplane’s maximum gross weight. Although his written statement and interviews indicated that there was no frost on the airplane during his preflight examination, the police report of the accident stated that the pilot told the responding officer immediately after the accident that there could have been frost on the wings of the airplane. The airport manager who responded to the accident scene reported that all airplane surfaces were covered with frost when he arrived a short time after the accident. The pilot reported that during the takeoff the rotation speed was between 82 and 85 knots. The pilot’s reports of what happened after rotation were consistent, indicating that the airplane began to veer to the right and began shaking. The pilot stated that he did not hear a stall warning and that the airplane did not feel like it was in a stall. While the pilot tried to correct the veering to the right, the airplane pitched down, turned left, and the left wing struck the ground. The airplane then bounced, the right wing struck the ground, and the right main landing gear collapsed. The left wing sustained substantial damage. Airplane performance data indicated that the proper rotation speed for a maximum gross weight takeoff was 96 knots. The power-on stall speed at maximum gross weight for the airplane with landing gear extended and flaps retracted was not specifically listed but would have been between 78 and 91 knots based on available performance data from the airplane owner’s manual. In addition, the performance data would have been for an airplane without frost on it; frost would have increased the speed. Based on the available evidence it is likely that the airplane had frost contamination, which the pilot ignored. He then rotated the airplane during the maximum gross-weight takeoff at a speed below the airplane manufacturer’s recommended rotation speed. The slower speed in combination with degraded performance due to frost contamination of the airplane’s flying surfaces resulted in exceedance of the critical angle of attack, resulting in an aerodynamic stall and subsequent impact with the ground.
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to attempt takeoff with frost covering the airplane and rotating below the published rotation speed, which led to exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN21LA101
- Event ID
- 20201229102465
- Case number
- CEN21LA101
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: local date, investigation status, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2020-12-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 523807938ab30c3e69504cb8779d46e2697fcecb9fd4331d163fd00c3a3562bc; retrieved 2026-09-16T13:31:42.546Z.