The V-tail Bonanza is an excellent aircraft that developed a completely unjustified reputation as a ‘Doctor Killer’. The only aircraft that came near to earning the same reputation was the Piper Malibu/Mirage series.
As the former owner of a vintage G35 model V-tail Bonanza, ZS-DOB, I always pay attention when one of them crashes. Thus a recent V-tail accident in the USA caught my attention for two reasons: there was an in-flight breakup, and the pilot was a doctor – a successful and thus presumably rich, plastic surgeon.
AvWeb’s Mark Phelps notes that ‘both factors in this crash invoke traditional assumptions about V-Tails, and even vintage Bonanza lovers like me acknowledge there is at least a grain or two of truth in each.’
‘Starting with the structural failure: Contrary to the legend, in most Bonanza breakups, the V-tail doesn’t fall off. As with a large percentage of in-flight breakups involving high-performance aircraft, they most often involve wing-spar failure.
That is consistent with this accident, in that witnesses reported seeing the plane falling out the cloud base with both wings folded upwards. This is often the result of the aircraft picking up excessive speed as a result of disorientation in cloud, followed by an abrupt pitch-up after coming out the bottom of the cloud with the speed off the clock and the nose pointing almost straight down.
One of the reasons behind this crash may well be the pressure of ‘get-home-itis’, particularly when the pilot is a professional who sells his time and usually has a demanding schedule with compelling commitments.
A classic case of a doctor with pressing appointments was the crash of ZS-XPS, a Cirrus SR22 in 2007. The surgeon pilot had left Bloemfontein before dawn to perform operations in Queenstown. The CAA accident report summarises as follows: “Evidence and witness statements obtained during the investigation indicated that the pilot circled for approximately 1½ hours, 14 kilometres from Queenstown above the mist.
‘The possibility exists that the pilot might have been worried about being late for the surgery on his patient, and that he became hasty and took the decision to fly through the mist in the hope that it would clear sufficiently for him to see the ground and get his bearings. However, he did not know how high he was above the ground, and effectively flew from VMC into IMC conditions without an instrument rating.’ Yet he did not lack experience – having 2,400 hours total time.
An instrument rating would not have helped in this case as he decided to descend into ground mist at an uncontrolled airfield.
The Tennessee accident aircraft was N47WT, a clearly much loved 1966 V-tail that was radar and tip-tank-equipped. Like many aging piston singles, it has been subject to a spar modification Service Bulletin. Whether this was done we do not at present know. But Bonanzas are strong. A comment on Phelp’s article writes, “I was flying the Bonanza’s brother, the T34. Night VFR, no instrument rating, old, tired, precessing gyros, an unseen cloud, and the dazzling reflections from the rotating beacon; the classic graveyard spiral naturally ensued. The G meter showed 7.5 when I got home and I vividly remember seeing the reflection of my nav lights in the water as my vision greyed out in the pullout. All the “holes in the Swiss cheese” lined up, save one. Never again!”
Phelps reports that no information has come out yet about the latest V-tail crash doctor’s pilot’s experience and what aircraft he may have owned previously, if any, nor any word on what transition training he may have received.
There has been no information to date on what avionics and autopilot might have been installed. But it would appear the doctor was at least instrument rated. So how did he lose it so badly?
As Jim Davis always likes to point out, the weather is always the big question. Unfortunately, other than reports of minor convective activity in the area, not much information is available, including the height of the cloud base, which could be an important factor.
Those are the things we don’t know. What we do know (according to data posted on FlightAware and recorded ATC communications) is that the flight departed on May 15 just before 10:00 a.m. local time from Gonzales, Louisiana, bound for Louisville, Kentucky.
The V-tail Bonny became the poster boy of the plane for the pilot whose ‘wallet was larger than his skill’. The pilot’s recently college graduated twin son and daughter also died in the crash. The tragedy is huge, especially for the bereaved wife and mother.
The pilot was on an instrument flight plan, as the flight maintained a cruise altitude of 7,000 feet until about 12:53 p.m. local time, roughly three hours into the flight. The Bonanza then climbed, apparently cleared to 9,000 feet, but overshooting to close to 10,000 feet.
Before then, at about 12:45, the aircraft began to deviate from its 030M heading as far left as 15 degrees. Air traffic control tapes reveal the enroute controller called out the heading and altitude deviations and instructed the pilot to correct course, and, twice, to descend to 9,000 feet, which the pilot acknowledged both times with “descending to 9,000.”
Less than three minutes later, the Bonanza was at 7,800 feet, descending at 4,000 feet per minute on a heading of 154 degrees and an ADS-B-derived groundspeed of 188 knots. Never exceed speed (Vne) for the V-35 is 192 knots.
FlightAware data stopped at that point. Radar contact was lost some 3,500 feet lower, airspeed and rate of descent not known, but presumably at a significant increase.
This all unravelled quickly. It was roughly seven minutes from the initial climb to the final steep descent and crash. In between were corrections assigned by ATC for heading and altitude. Why the pilot’s flying ability should have deteriorated so quickly remains an open question.
Speaking to ‘the grain of truth regarding buyers of expensive planes’, it is indeed true that there are aircraft owners who are able to buy planes that can be beyond their capabilities. But Phelp’s notes that it’s too early to conclude that was the case here.
As to their vulnerability to breaking up, the V-Tail Bonanza is a known entity. To address V-tail concerns a small cuff was added to the leading edge fuselage intersection of the butterfly tails and that resolved all weakness concerns. A noteworthy quirk is that as the main tanks are ahead of the CofG, as the flight progresses the CofG may move back, to out of limits. The controls are responsive, and so it’s a plane that has to be flown with care in IMC.
John Eckalbar wrote the book, “Flying the Beech Bonanza.” A clear lesson is that if you are about to get disorientated in cloud, lower the landing gear. A Bonanza in cruise configuration picks up speed quickly when the nose drops. However with the gear down, a V-tail is surprisingly stable and docile, and it is hard to accelerate to dangerous airspeeds. It helps that the Bonny has particularly strong gear.
For a short while there was the fear that the early Cirrus SR22 pilots, with big bank accounts and low skills, were falling into the same trap. Fortunately Cirrus nipped any possible bad reputation in the bud by developing excellent training courses for new Cirrus buyers. And later versions have that magic blue ‘level mode’ button which puts the blue side up. When the level mode button is activated in flight, the autopilot automatically engages and returns the aircraft to straight-and-level so you can sort yourself out. And when you completely run out of skill and ideas, you can always pull the parachute. So modern piston singles have indeed come along way.
Because planes have clearly marked gear limitation speeds and extending the gear at excessive airspeeds can cause damage, Phelps makes the interesting point that there is the same mindset involved in pulling a ballistic parachute.
ZS-DOB had a gear-extension speed of around 135 knots. The later model V-35 in the Tennessee crash had a gear-extension limit of 142, which was still significantly lower than the pilot would have seen on his ASI as things started to get out of control. But the risk of extending the gear while going too fast is limited to ripping off the gear doors —expensive, but not life-threatening and possibly lifesaving.
These loss of control accidents highlight the two perennial problem of flying piston aircraft in dicey weather. It’s easy to push on into cloud because you have pressing appointments, and once in cloud it’s easy to get disoriented because of a lack of skills and experience.
It was not the plane’s fault. Simply over ambitious pilots. Know your limits.