2014 Wichita King Air crash
Gilleland Aviation Raytheon Aircraft Company B200 · Crashed into a building following suspected engine failure at take-off; pilot error
From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT) to Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport (MEZ)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN15FA034
- 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
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 3
- Occupants
- 1
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 6 · all on the ground
- 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
Raytheon Aircraft Company B200
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 200
- 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
- N52SZ
- Operator
- Gilleland Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT), Wichita, KSTo Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport (MEZ), Mena, AR
- Aircraft age
- About 15 years (built 1999)
- 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
- 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 engine power (partial)
- 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
- 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.
From the Wikipedia article
On October 30, 2014, a Beechcraft King Air B200 twin turboprop crashed into a building hosting a FlightSafety International (FSI) training center, shortly after taking off from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas. The pilot, the only person on board, was killed along with three people in the building; six more people in the building were injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the crash most likely occurred due to the pilot's inability to successfully control the aircraft after a reduction in power from the left engine.
Accident
The aircraft was operating a non-scheduled repositioning flight to Mena, Arkansas. At 9:47 a.m., the flight was cleared by the control tower to fly the runway heading and climb to 5,000 feet altitude. Shortly thereafter, the takeoff roll began from runway 1R. Seconds after liftoff, the pilot reported "...and Tower, just declaring an emergency, ah, we just lost, loss the left engine". The aircraft made several oscillations in altitude then began a turn to the left, climbing slowly. The Beechcraft continued turning left, missing the top of a hangar on the west side of the runway with marginal clearance.
At 9:48, with the landing gear extended and in a 29-degree slip left, the aircraft impacted the northeast corner of the FSI building at 92 knots while descending at 1,600 feet per minute, killing the pilot and three people in the building. The flight duration from lift off to impact was 26 seconds, with the aircraft reaching a maximum altitude of approximately 120 feet above ground level (AGL).
The three people killed in the building were trapped inside one of several flight simulators installed at the facility. The impact and fire destroyed most of the aircraft and the FSI building sustained fire and structural damage.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Inspection of the aircraft systems, engines and propellers found no irregularities that could have prevented normal operation. In-depth scrutiny of the propellers, combined with a sound spectrum analysis, led investigators to conclude that the left engine was probably generating low to moderate power and the right engine was at a moderate to high power setting, at the time of impact. Other evidence, including video taken by cameras around the airport, suggested that considerable left rudder input was applied by the pilot shortly before the crash. Correct reaction to a reduction in power from the left engine would have been right rudder input.
Examination of the CVR revealed it had survived the crash with usable data intact. On the day of the accident at 9:46:13 a.m., sounds of the pilot performing an engine run-up test were recorded, along with the words "prop test" in a whispered voice. 35 to 45 seconds later, the word "trim" was whispered, followed eight seconds later by a two-word phrase: "<expletive> it".
At 9:47:52, the words "We have eighty knots, feathers armed" were spoken and at 9:48:01, the sound of the propellers operating unsynchronized was recorded. At 9:48:05, a two-word phrase "the <expletive>" was recorded. Then, at 9:48:16, the pilot radioed the tower, saying "and Tower, just declaring an emergency, ah, we just lost, loss the left engine" followed almost immediately by the sound of the stall warning horn. The horn was recorded twice more, and then at 9:48:25 the pilot spoke a phrase starting with an expletive and ending "we're going in; we're dead".
Emergency procedures call for the malfunctioning engine’s propeller to be feathered and the landing gear to be retracted (gear-up) for an engine failure during takeoff. Inspection of the aircraft revealed that neither propeller was feathered and the landing gear was extended. The aircraft was equipped with an autofeather system and a rudder boost system but their operational condition at the time of the crash is unknown due to extensive post-crash fire damage. On March 1, 2016, the NTSB released its final report on the accident, and states under the heading Probable Cause and Findings that:
Text from the Wikipedia article “2014 Wichita King Air crash” (revision 1339298774, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The airline transport pilot was departing for a repositioning flight. During the initial climb, the pilot declared an emergency and stated that the airplane "lost the left engine." The airplane climbed to about 120 ft above ground level, and witnesses reported seeing it in a left turn with the landing gear extended. The airplane continued turning left and descended into a building on the airfield. A postimpact fired ensued and consumed a majority of the airplane.
Postaccident examinations of the airplane, engines, and propellers did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Neither propeller was feathered before impact. Both engines exhibited multiple internal damage signatures consistent with engine operation at impact. Engine performance calculations using the preimpact propeller blade angles (derived from witness marks on the preload plates) and sound spectrum analysis revealed that the left engine was likely producing low to moderate power and that the right engine was likely producing moderate to high power when the airplane struck the building. A sudden, uncommanded engine power loss without flameout can result from a fuel control unit failure or a loose compressor discharge pressure (P3) line; thermal damage prevented a full assessment of the fuel control units and P3 lines. Although the left engine was producing some power at the time of the accident, the investigation could not rule out the possibility that a sudden left engine power loss, consistent with the pilot's report, occurred.
A sideslip thrust and rudder study determined that, during the last second of the flight, the airplane had a nose-left sideslip angle of 29°. It is likely that the pilot applied substantial left rudder input at the end of the flight. Because the airplane's rudder boost system was destroyed, the investigation could not determine if the system was on or working properly during the accident flight. Based on the available evidence, it is likely that the pilot failed to maintain lateral control of the airplane after he reported a problem with the left engine. The evidence also indicates that the pilot did not follow the emergency procedures for an engine failure during takeoff, which included retracting the landing gear and feathering the propeller.
Although the pilot had a history of anxiety and depression, which he was treating with medication that he had not reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, analysis of the pilot's autopsy and medical records found no evidence suggesting that either his medical conditions or the drugs he was taking to treat them contributed to his inability to safely control the airplane in an emergency situation.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain lateral control of the airplane after a reduction in left engine power and his application of inappropriate rudder input. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to follow the emergency procedures for an engine failure during takeoff. Also contributing to the accident was the left engine power reduction for reasons that could not be determined because a postaccident examination did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation and thermal damage precluded a complete examination.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2014 Wichita King Air crash
- Article
- 2014 Wichita King Air crash
- Revision
- 1339298774 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q18380400
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record CEN15FA034
- Event ID
- 20141030X24112
- Case number
- CEN15FA034
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2014 Wichita King Air crash" (page 44255207, revision 1339298774); merged with NTSB case CEN15FA034 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record CEN15FA034
- Map position
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: events decimal coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: operated under Part 91: General Aviation
- Fatalities
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record CEN15FA034: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2014 Wichita King Air crash" and NTSB case CEN15FA034, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- 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.