Disaster Just After Take Off | Crash of King Air, Melbourne, Australia 

Most important takeway as usual. It doesn't matter how many hours you have flying, checklists are always of the utmost importance.

Like this one, every disaster I've ever seen--as an anesthesiologist working in operating rooms--has been a combination of complacency and numerous safeguards ignored. It's never just ONE thing. Or, it's forgetting about weight and balance because it's rarely an issue: most anesthesiologists do NOT check the emergency oxygen tank each day (which is rarely used)...............and each has a different excuse for not performing this basic "pre-flight".

Mistakes of complacency or impatience are among the deadliest in the world of flight.

If you have to take your time to be sure everything is set right for takeoff, so be it. Time lost is better than lives lost!

It’s been 30 years since I was flying King Airs but I’m sure with a bit of effort in the rudder department the airplane would have been controllable. This is why aircraft have rudder peddles and pilots have legs.

Nice presentation and not long winded. Ignoring pre flight checks or doing them incorrectly leads to accidents. Good find on the local buildings being too high. 👍

what scary the most is the fact that the pilot has had thousands of hours on this equipment, yet overlooked a very simple step.

So glad I found this channel, fantastic work so far!

I hate to say it, being an old codger myself, but the main cause of this unfortunate tragedy could be the age of the pilot. You can be mentally sharp at that age but also prone to the simplest mistakes, and lapses of concentration - like checking the trim wheel to the right and left and then forgetting to center it again, or not properly calculating weight (hey only 4 passengers, why worry). Leaving the wheels down because it's not something he's ever had to practice and your reaction time at that age is slower and it's easy to miss steps you should have taken. I just did this on while setting up footage for a documentary I'm editing. Found a series of mistakes a day after I made them. Not a big deal because no one's life was on the line. The other thing at that age is that he might have developed some bad habits and didn't see the need for following the actual checklist each time, just going off memory. I'm curious - if you actually looked at everything with a keen eye during your walk around, wouldn't you be able to notice how the plane was trimmed? I mean, the trim tabs should be obvious on the flight surfaces - it's not some setting hidden behind the last passenger seat or something. He could have looked at it directly during his walk arounds and just missed it. Being 67, his age may have increased the likelihood of missing something like that.

Great video. Thankyou. It seems that thousands of hours of experience did not help this pilot's reaction to the immediate problem on take-off (let alone creating it in the first place). Instead of thinking on his feet, he gave up and simply called 'Mayday' on the radio. I understand that pilots of large airlines regularly train for anomalies and hence a little more prepared to 'keep their heads' in an unexpected situation while flying. This is so important especially for twin and multiengined aircraft which are potentially more hazardous to fly if something goes wrong, particularly with asymmetry.

Excellent video. All facts, no rambling. Very professional. Sorry for the loss of life that day. 😔

This looks like an almost duplicate of the Kings Air crash in Adison, Tx. How peculiar. But a very good and precise presentation! I think I'll subscribe. (forgive the sneeze) LoL.

I've discovered and watched a couple of your videos today. Love them so far. I'm just learning to fly (too late for the RAF for me but at least I can fly for fun). I'm not completely fearless but watching your crash and turbulence videos are really good for understanding and minimising risk - Who'd have thought a simple rudder trim error and being slight overweight could be so catastrophic. Keep up the good work. And good luck with your career

Didnt he notice left pull as he was gathering speed down the RW?

Very sad about the loss of life and the drama caused to family and friends, I have learned from this to take your time to go thru all the necessary checklists and inspections outside and inside the aircraft, sad to learn this from a tragedy!

Why was the rudder trim set full left? Obviously the aircraft was okay during previous flight. Was that investigated. However the pilot should have checked. But it's odd that trim was left in that condition?

Great content! Thank you.

The rudder trim tab should have been overcome by pilot input on the pedals and the yaw damper. Considering the rudder trim tab input was not overcome by the pilots and yaw damper - it seems the pilots might try to overcome the rudder with the ailerons. This would create “ slip “. Slip effect would create loss of altitude along with drag from the gear being down not allowing the aircraft to lift from acceleration.

Would you notice an offset trim during the 'walk-around'?

I fly a King Air 350 and even with the more powerful engines it doesn’t require anywhere near full rudder trim to trim out the forces. Pushing the rudder yourself takes a lot of force. That means with full deflection… the rudder forces are probably close to double that of single engine. Always check your trims. I run mine through all the way and then centralize them during the preflight.. and check them again during after starts. There are three detents on the scales. They should be at 9, 12, and 3 o’clock. You can even check this at night with no lights.

It’s hard to imagine that the high time pilot did not pick up on the rudder pressure the second the plane started down the runway ??? Both my feet are pushing on the pedals constantly just to my little 172 straight !! ??? And left hand on the yoke is going to tell me exactly where the elevator trim is !!

I knew one of the passengers aboard this flight… His name was Glenn Garland, former CEO of the company I worked for in the US called CLEAResult. Although I only met and spoke with him on one occasion. It was clear he was a keen listener.

even so the trim was set incorrectly. full right rudder should have been enough to maintain a flyable aircraft if it had the correct weight ?

Finishing up on my PPL, one thing I learned, is a good pilot is always learning..great insructual video, extremely tragic. Which is why the preflight is so important, this could have easily been avoided

So sad that the passengers lost their lives over the pilot not going through his check list.

Keep up the good work😀👍

Just found you, subscribed!

In what flight configuration would you use that much rudder trim?....assuming it was left in that position from the previous flight.

A very good video! I’m pleased to find this channel again. It makes a change to hear about accidents in smaller planes - in fact sadly, you should never run out of material because accidents in GA planes are increasing, unlike commercial flying which keeps getting safer. Would a trim all the way to the left have been visible on a walk around? Just wondering.

😢checklist,checklist,checklist!!

Thanks for that 🤙🏻

Why was the trim wheel fully deflected in the first place ??

That almost same incident occurred in Addison Airport about 3 years ago, but they lost the left engine on takeoff. Not enough single engine technique was used in time to correct it and it crashed and 10 people died that day. One was a kid in school my son knew. Just going on a family vacation and was heavy as well. Terrible as I used to fly a King Air 200 in the recent past.

Terrible loss of life. I am learning safety lessons from these videos.

GenAv VFR pilot here and I watch a lot of aviation vids. Content aside, I like this vid because its narrated but an actual human and not some monotonous AI voice.

We had a similar King Air crash in Texas a few years ago. Engine failure then rollover crash within seconds.

Without doubt the initial part of the take of on a propellor drive twin is a critical time. It seems likely to me that the problem here, despite being overweight and badly our of trim, was pilot incapacitation. It would be interesting to know what the accident repot said.

Surely the left trimmed rudder problem would've been noticed during the takeoff roll?

This King Air crash is remarkably similar to the King Air crash at Addison Texas airport that l saw recently. Thanks, great job on your video. Subscribed !

The crispest, brightest graphics I've seen in a flight video~!

I haven't flown the KingAir for over 30 years, but I do remember that if this pilot exceeded maximum takeoff weight with 4 passengers then that's no mean feat!! For the love of God I've no idea why the rudder trim would be wound to full deflection! The B200 KingAir I flew in the early 1990's even had rudder boost (to reduce rudder forces needed in case of an engine failure). The rudder boost was checked before first flight each day and a full rudder trim setting would have been apparent. Also the rudder trim is easily visible, so coupled with blatantly sloppy or non existent checklist procedures I'm not surprised at the tragedy this flight became.

How did the Beechcraft B200 King Air become overloaded when there were only 4 passengers? The Beechcraft B200 King Air has the capability of 13 passengers and 2 air crew.

Great video, well presented. One note, don’t think the Swiss cheese model applies. The rudder trim was set incorrectly, and further missed three times during normal checklist execution. Correcting this one error would most likely have prevented this accident. Being overweight was also an issue, but likely the aircraft would have flown, but not performed as expected. Normally, the Swiss cheese model implies a series of correct decisions that collectively produce disaster.

Surely, this is an example of why checklists exist and why aircraft types have maximum take-off weights.

Excellent analysis. Clearly explained. Thanks for this video. Basically the pilot failed in his pre-flight checks. Fully culpable.

I would have thought the extended takeoff roll would have been warning to abort the takeoff.

My question would be who would have trimmed the rudder fully left ?

I think high time pilots tend to get complacent, they get too comfortable and let their guard down.

Checklist problem. The pilot is fully at fault for this incident. Even being overweight by 1,000 lb. The plane is more than capable taking off and flying correctly but it must be trimmed properly especially on takeoff. Or at Landing. The two most dangerous times is the transition from ground-to-air and from air-to-ground. He had to have been suffering a lot of issues trying to keep the plane straight going down the runway. So why he even rotated the aircraft is still beyond me.

It probably took him longer than he was in the air to diagnose the trim problem.

This is not the only King Air that crashed because of this.

Why was trim set full rudder?

I'm not a pilot but have some experience. Someone correct me but It would seem to me that with trim offset so much it could still be overcome by use of opposite Rudder, at least long enough to gain flight speed and figure trim out?

Yeah I was on qf1 crash and survived I was on the double deck and we thought it could blow up

Did you reboot, before the crash?

Do we know for sure when the trim was set? (I.e. via onboard data) Perhaps he set it to counteract something else he was was dealing with in the heat of the moment

Just subscribed but please try to make your videos a little longer because not every accident can be fully covered in ten or twelve minutes. Well done!

Please do qf1 the 747 running out of runway

Any high-time King-Air pilots out there? I only have a few hundred hours in the King Air but many thousands in various jets. I was Flight Safety trained in the King Air but don't remember the rudder forces. I do know that in light to medium jets, when I suspected an engine failure I jammed in full rudder and that was enough. My question is whether full opposite rudder with the pedal would overcome the trim setting in this case. I just don't remember the rudder forces of my training. Another thing is that while over the years I did a lot of training on runaway elevator trim which would end with full nose up elevator trim (and sometimes my knee pushing on the yoke to keep the nose down until I got slowed down and found the circuit breaker) I never trained in the sim with full rudder trim. Any ideas out there?

Overweight with 4 passengers and 1 pilot? Damn, those golf bags were heavy.

Which simulator are you using?

Man u r doing great. Plz make a detailed video on the communication system. What freq. Are used and how to use the radios. I have so many questions that I just do not know how to ask. Thanks my friend.

Wow it sounded like the little things brought this aircraft to a sad end.

I have flown upon a King Air on more occasions than I can count and it is a wonderful aircraft. That being said, when and if you are not personally behind the controls, you are always at the mercy of whomever is and in this case it appears that the pilot failed to perform his essential duties

I understand how the full rudder trim caused the Yaw and likely the crash. What I don't understand and scratching my head over is that Kingair with full fuel and only five people onboard should have been well under gross weight?

Even with 7,000 hours, thinking you've seen it all and know it all... ALWAYS perform checklist.

whether or not the pilot "did the hecklist" is irrelevant.. we don't know really if they did or did not do a check list. Regardless the first step in the event of an engine failure, this instance the airplane yawed to the left as if the left engine failed, (I'm not buying the rudder trim setting either) the first step in the appearance of a yaw to the left or right indicating loss of power on that side is "positive rate gear up, maintain directional control", of which is rudder input! If your stepping on a rudder is not enough then rudder trim is appropriate, we don't know the pilots may have turned the rudder trim the wrong way. the 528 lbs over wt is also irrelevant, it is 4% of gross wt, for a King Air 200. Why is the pilot uttering over the radio mayday..? What is that going to do.? Fly the damn airplane. The airplane was flyable if he had maintained directional control and raised the landing gear... the first two memory items for just such an instance. There are no less than 4 similar King Air crashes around the time of this crash. Wichita KS, King Air 200; 5 fatal. Long Beach CA King Air 200; 5 fatal and the Addison TX King Air 350 crash, 10 fatal. All of these crashes the airplane yawed to the left, ultimately stalled and crashed either into a building or on airport property. All 4 of these cases the landing gear was extended at impact. All of these cases the airplane was flyable regardless of 4-5% over gross in this case and the Addison TX crash and this crash. All of these cases the airplane could have landed strait ahead with remaining runway and a crippled airplane. The real question is why did the trained experienced pilots (Long Beach is the exception the pilot fabricated his experience to get the insurance policy) in all of these cases did not do ANYTHING after rotation, which is also a problem, lets say got the airplane into the air and did nothing to resolve what was going on with the airplane..? I read the report from the Aussie version of NTSB and they pointed to the broken rudder trim cable as evidence of rudder trim out of place. Even if the rudder trim was all the way over one way or the other, a glance will tell you the engines power output, if they are both running and you step on the rudder to no avail the next action is start twisting the rudder trim knob (not on the checklist), of which this individual could have done and in the wrong direction, maybe this individual was dyslexic. We don't know. The airplane flew in the night before, he was the only guy flying it. There is no reason for rudder trim to be all the way over one way or the other. This speaks to training and it also speaks to overly checklist centric direction in the cockpit being pushed so hard by the FAA EASA and the Aussies. You can't do anything without a checklist telling you what to do. I would submit, you need to flow a King Air, they are simple machines. Then use the check list to review after completion of the flow The problem is you are probably never going to have a text book emergency, so the check list won't tell you what to do. you have to have enough experience and knowledge to react to what you have and solve the problem. Use the checklist to learn the machine, flow it after and the checklist to verify things were done. I know this sounds like blasphemy. I can do a complete run up on King Air 350, 200, 100, 90 by flowing it and know everything is done and set properly and not pick up a checklist. I'll need the check list (QRH) for speed bug settings and balance field length had other abnormalities that might come along. THat's it. Fly the damn airplane.

Wouldnt the severity of this issue been noticed before going airborne? As aircraft speed increases the forces acting would become evident. Essentially what I am asking is, wouldn't these forces at some point before lift not be enough to say abort?

I can't imagine why the rudder trim was set that way anyway. I've never ever needed full trim on any aircraft in any situation.

Interesting

How did he roll long enough to lift off with rudder trim being that far off? Wouldn’t the full right pedal on roll have been a clue?

Who left it full left trim? What possible scenario would justify leaving it like that?

I agree with viewer, pilot would've noticed rudder trim during take off itself while on the ground roll. 2nd, 5 feet off the ground pulls hand you push nose down, reduce throttle and land immediately even if 3/4 down runways. Taking it to the air with flaps set & Gear down & extended is crazy. If he decides to continue the Drill is mixture, props & throttle set full then flaps up/ gear up. Bank into good engine then adjust rudder & airleron trim as needed to relieve pressure etc Or reduce throttle on right engine a bit to relieve of servere yawing effect. Identify & verify to feather engine only if you see engine gauges showing one engine not producing theust

Wow!

That plane was King Air B200 not a King Air 350I which is shown in the video.

It's rarely one thing.... I see a few things going on here. Trim fully deflected and overweight are indeed fatal. But..there are warnings during the ground roll that should have caused a competent Pilot to abort the takeoff. The old saying they taught me at Ft Rucker: "if it ain't right on the ground...it rarely gets better in the air". Takeoffs are optional...but landings are mandatory.

Wouldn't hard left trim affect nose wheel steering?

Who set max rudder trim ? Such a terrible accident and perhaps we can put it down to human factors. It shows why the check list is so important to adhere to.

So many accidents just bring us back to the basics. A weight and balance for each flight is mandatory, and checklists minimize our human flaws. I doubt that in low, slow, and dirty configuration that full right rudder inputs on a King Air can counter full left trim rudder. We tend to be more relaxed with take-offs than landings; we shouldn't be.

You would have thought there would have been some sort of alert or alarm indicating the severely yawed control.

I was driving on the adjacent freeway when the KingAir crashed...huge mushroon plume and fireball on impact. All on board had no chance of survival. The passengers died because the pilot was complacent...unforgivable 😡

could the overweight condition also affect the moment of the aircraft?

It seems like the design engineers would have a trim tab light on the panel like most aircraft, even LSAs and experimentals have those indicators.

I can't see how a King Air could be classified as "overweight" with only pilot and 4 x passengers. These planes are registered as up to a 12 seater (11 in the cabin plus one in co-pilot seat). I used to fly in them regularly out of Alice Springs with full passenger load plus freight and a decent fuel load given the distance to the mine site was approx. 550km and the plane was not re-fuelled on site for the return leg. Essendon to King Island is a much shorter distance (about 250km) so a much smaller fuel load would be required. A good report though, even if I disagree with you on the "overloaded" status.

Non-pilot question: Does this model of aircraft have an incorrect takeoff configuration alarm? If so, would the alarm sound during the take-off roll with these flap settings?

I figured she was over-grossed in weight... never considered trim. Interesting coverage. I would like to see more nonfatal accidents, too.

My question is: Why was the rudder trim set all the way to the right prior to takeoff? Was it due to conditions on the previous flight? Was it a maintenance issue? Did an unauthorized person enter the aircraft on the ground prior to flight? All these questions could be answered and negated simply by using the checklist. There is no need to rush it.

6:30 There is also a confusion factor. When the airplane does something unexpected there is a moment when the pilot is startled, then he startles trying to figure out what is going on. Why is the plane not doing what is expected. The first problem the pilot would have considered was engine failure. He may or may not have realized his engine was fine, but what to consider after that? This pilot reacted like someone who was unpracticed dealing with emergencies.

Eerily similar to the King Air crash in Texas in 2019

Thgt this was the KA 350 Addison TX crash? Pilot took hands of throttles and one closed...

Tasmania is part of Australia.The flight was from Victoria to Tasmania.

Major issues with private fights some pilots neglect weight distribution, max acceptable placement of cargo items, very critical mistakes

Man, CGI has some real eye candy nowadays. And, yes, it's never just one thing that leads to a disaster.

Good vids

So many ask why there isn't some system or protocol to prevent an aircraft from taking off with improper trim. Well, there IS such a system. It's called a preflight checklist.

familiar to a crash at addison airport in texas.

I think the weight was the main issue, rudder trim, even if fully to one direction, can be countered by adding opposite rudder.

Wow, you'd think there would be some system that could warn you at startup that the trim is engaged. My car sure lets me know when my seat belt is not fastened or if a door is ajar.

Beechcraft 390 has a crash on Elmina,Malaysia 6 passanger and 2 crew from Langkawi,malaysia to Subang airport,malaysia and 6 passanger and 2 Crew crash and 1 car drivers and motorcycle died 😢

What a totally needless mistake. There ought to be an audible alarm for excessive trim selected while aircraft is on the ground. Condolences to the families.