Covington, GA, USA
N900AW
BEECH A36
On December 8, 2022, about 1810 eastern standard time, a Beech A36, N900AW, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Covington, Georgia. The commercial pilot and pilot-rated passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14?Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.? The pilot was seated in the left seat and pilot-rated passenger, who was more experienced than the pilot was seated in the right seat. They stated that after leveling off at 5,500 ft mean sea level, they heard a loud bang from the engine and observed a shower of sparks from the cowling, and the engine lost power. The Garmin Smart Glide mode was engaged and as designed the autopilot pitched the airplane up to attain, then maintain best glide airspeed, then advised that no airports were within glide range. At this point, being the more experienced pilot, aircraft control was transferred to the right seat pilot-rated passenger. The autopilot was disengaged and flew manually. He also declared a “mayday” while he looked for a suitable landing site; however, because it was dark all that they saw that looked suitable was a straight section of road that had fairly heavy traffic moving south and less traffic moving north. He maneuvered the airplane for landing to the south on a section of the road that appeared to be straight. After lowering the landing gear, he continuously flashed the landing and taxi lights off and on to attempt to alert the on-coming traffic to stop and pull to the side. He then asked the left seat pilot to lower full flaps. Soon after, the airplane’s left wing impacted part of a tree that was growing over the roadway. The airplane touched down on the road and heavy braking was applied but almost simultaneously the right wing impacted a stop sign which pulled the airplane into the right lane, where it impacted an intersection sign, causing the airplane to travel into a ditch on the right side of the road. After coming to rest the airplane was secured and both pilots exited uninjured. Preliminary examination of the airplane revealed the main spar of one elevator was damaged. Examination of the engine revealed a large diameter hole in the engine crankcase adjacent to the No. 4 cylinder. The hole was from the backbone (top) of the crankcase faying surfaces to near the cylinder faying surface of the No. 4 cylinder.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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