Beech V35B N50JM accident near Nogales, Arizona

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to establish a positive rate of climb before retracting the landing gear when he executed an aborted landing, which resulted in a propeller strike, diminished climb performance, and the inadvertent contact with terrain.

NTSB analysis

The pilot and his wife were at the conclusion of a cross-country flight. The pilot reported that he completed a normal approach and during touchdown the airplane veered to the left. After he was unsuccessful in his attempt to align the airplane with the runway using control inputs, the pilot elected to abort the landing, at which time he added full power and retracted the landing gear. The propeller subsequently struck the runway before the airplane started to climb. The pilot circled around the airport and the airplane impacted the ground about 0.5 nm north of the approach end of his landing runway. A postcrash fire ensued and the airplane sustained substantial damage.

Postaccident examination of the airplane’s flight control system did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Propeller strikes near the approach end of the runway indicate that the pilot retracted the landing gear before establishing a positive rate of climb during the aborted landing, which resulted in the propeller contacting the runway. As there was no evidence of a preimpact mechanical anomaly with the engine, it is likely that the airplane’s subsequent degraded performance during the aborted landing was the result of the propeller strike.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR23LA022 for the full record.