Preliminary Reports
Training Accident Claims Two, Beech C99, Aug. 22, 2023, Litchfield, Maine
A newly hired pilot and the company instructor conducting his third initiation flight perished when the 1982-model aircraft abruptly crashed into a stand of 50-foot oak trees. ADS-B data showed that the twin-engine turboprop took off from Maine’s Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport (KLEW) at about 17:08 local time, flew the ILS approach to KLEW’s Runway 04, and initiated a missed approach. After reaching the missed approach fix, the flight began the charted left holding pattern, then entered a sudden descent.
A pilot-rated witness saw an airplane he recognized as a Beech 99 flying north and described its engines as sounding “very smooth.” When he looked up again, the airplane was in a “steep dive” with its wings level. Its engines still sounded smooth and its flight path did not change. Shortly after it disappeared behind the trees, he heard a “loud boom.”
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