When rotating the Beech 95-B55 for takeoff at the airport in Colby, Kansas, the pilot felt the left rudder pedal “slam to the floor” and he could not depress the right rudder pedal.
Once airborne, the airplane drifted left of the runway and the pilot was unable to apply enough right rudder to correct the heading, so he continued the climb to pattern altitude.
During the climb, he saw the towbar still attached to the nosewheel through the mirror on the left engine nacelle.
The pilot phoned for assistance and then circled the airport at an altitude of 4,000 feet above mean sea level for about 30 minutes until help arrived.
While making the last circle, he noticed the right engine lost power.
He recalled that the right fuel gauge showed “low and the left fuel gauge was about 1/2 full.”
He turned on the crossfeed and the low boost pump. He noted that the right fuel gauge began to increase, however he told investigators that he should have turned it on earlier.
The pilot reported his altitude was 250 to 300 feet above ground level at this time and he was unable to gain airspeed or altitude. Having difficulty with directional control, he opted to perform a landing to an open field.
During the landing, the fuselage and right wing sustained substantial damage. He sustained minor injuries.
The aircraft manual states that the crossfeed is to be used only when the airplane is in level flight.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to remove the towbar from the nose landing gear before takeoff, which resulted in a sustained adverse yaw condition, and his failure to adequately monitor the fuel system while circling the airport, which resulted in fuel starvation and loss of power to the right engine.
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This March 2021 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
We read of pilots leaving the towbar connected ever so often. We don’t often read of one being so unfamiliar with the high performance plane they fly that they turn an oversight, albeit a big one, into a pilot induced accident.
If you don’t want to take the time to learn your airplanes systems, fly a 150.
I’m sorry that I desagree with You, RC, but I think a 150 is, for that pilot, a very substantial high performance a/c 🙂
rc & Bibocas:
Either of you have any multi-engine time? Know what VMC is? Now with the rudder stuck, I wonder how well you would have handled this. THANKFULLY it was the right engine that quit which means he would have needed to stand on that left rudder peddle otherwise. If it had been the left engine that quit with the left rudder peddle to the floor while he was holding a lot of right aileron, he probably wouldn’t have lived to tell about it. It probably would have done a snap roll into a spin. I don’t think this plane has left rotating and right rotating engines from the specs I found (such as the Piper Seminole has). If it did that would have partly negated the VMC roll tendency.
For multi-pilots, dead engine dead foot. That is the foot you ain’t having to use to shove a rudder peddle matches the side with the dead engine.