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a winglet on a prop blade. The engines had sagged so much during the hard landing that all propeller blade tips had dug into the ground! Further investigation by the Beech mechanics and engineers revealed that the engine mounts and firewalls were bent and the main spar was damaged beyond economical repair.
The airplane died before it ever left the factory. Some parts and avionics were salvaged, but FA-5 was no more. May she Rest in Peace.
Please, don’t lift the power levers in the flare. Promise?
Another side note: FA-5 also shows up now in the FAA Registry. Either I was given the incorrect serial number or perhaps it was finally repaired successfully?
A Near “Disaster” in Mexico
In 1976, another instructor pilot from the Beechcraft Training Center and I were selected to crew a weekend BE-200 flight to Mazatlán. An oil company in Houston had bought a new 200 but its delivery had been delayed due to a couple of last-minute snags. Since the new airplane was not ready as promised, the King Air salesman in Texas asked the Wichita factory to supply one of their demonstrators for the trip. Although this did not happen often, it was occasionally provided to keep happy customers. Beech was good that way!
The other pilot, Ernie, and I flew from Beech Field to Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (KHOU) to pick up our passengers – three couples, as I recall – then proceeded on this Friday afternoon to Mazatlán. The schedule had us returning to Houston Sunday afternoon. After clearing customs, fueling the plane and getting a ride to the nice beachfront hotel, Ernie and I were looking forward to a day and a half of relaxing and fun beach time.
We found that Hobie Cats – small sailing catamarans – were available for rent and we reserved one for Saturday afternoon. Being a bit paranoid about security on the Mexican beach, Ernie and I carefully placed our wallets, passports, pilot licenses, etc. into a hotel plastic laundry bag, inserted that bag into another one, tied them up so as to be as water-tight as possible, and then tied the whole thing to the boom for the Hobie’s sail. Off we went, enjoying the sun, the wind and the sailing. It was easy to keep an eye on our bag of stuff since the boom was just above head height as we sat in the canvas sling between the twin hulls.
Time passed as we sailed, watching the other boats, the bay’s shoreline, the resort hotels, drank a cerveza or two ... doing the Mexican beach resort thing.
Then, panic! Where’s the bag?! Somehow our boom- secured bag wasn’t secure anymore! Ernie, much taller than I, grasped the mast and pulled himself up as far as he could to scan the sea around us ... especially the
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wake behind us. Oh Lordy! A white something was bobbing in the waves far in the distance behind. We did a quick turn-about and headed in the direction of the white object. As we got closer we could see that it indeed was our missing bag of valuables. Whew! There were two very happy pilots when we hoisted that aboard. We’d probably still be in Mexico if the bag had never been retrieved!
I’ll talk to you next month! KA
King Air expert Tom Clements has been ying and instructing in King Airs for over 46 years, and is the author of “The King Air Book.” He is a Gold Seal CFI and has over 23,000 total hours with more than 15,000 in King Airs. For information on ordering his book, contact Tom direct at twcaz@msn.com. Tom is actively mentoring the instructors at King Air Academy in Phoenix.
If you have a question you’d like Tom to answer, please send it to Editor Kim Blonigen at editor@blonigen.net
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