Video: Puzzling Flight Profile in Violent Debonair Crash in PA Neighborhood

Reports that the single was headed for an obscure destination seem erroneous.

Photo via ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

A 1965 Beech Debonair crashed into a quiet Pennsylvania neighborhood on February 24 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, killing both aboard the straight-tail Bonanza. No one on the ground was injured. The crash was the culmination of a local instructional flight to prepare for the owner-pilot's Commercial rating. The complex single crashed and exploded, igniting a parked truck nearby and hurling one propeller blade from its hub into the bedroom of a nearby house. Another propeller blade can be seen lying free in the wreckage. The occupants were the 55-year-old pilot and his instructor, 74.

Doorbell cam footage shows the last seconds of the crash and includes audio that appears to indicate the plane's engine was still producing power and might have been in a spin. The door cam video starts at around 34 seconds in. While the reporter focuses (and talks over) the sound of the engine, the plane itself is shown in the background descending vertically at high speed into the ground. Two pedestrians in the footage can be seen hearing the impending crash, turning and beginning to run before falling to the ground in the attempt.

An NTSB investigator on scene briefed news media about the steps he would take to examine the wreckage, while pilots online have been studying ADS-B data from the 43-minute accident flight, which was chockfull of maneuvering. While at least one local pilot stated that ADS-B altitude records "may be unreliable" around the region of the crash, observers noted that the Debonair appears to have hardly exceeded 2,200 feet AGL during the entire flight, and during the final minute of flight, ground speed as slow as 46 knots at 1,300 AGL was reported before the loss-of-control became obvious. It was also noted that data from two prior training flights showed the slow-flight portions conducted around 5,000 feet MSL, or roughly double the highest reached during the accident flight.

Weather at the time of the crash appears to have been overcast with surface temperatures around freezing and mostly calm winds. Some online commentators discussed the potential threat that pitot-static system ice could have posed to the pilots, keeping them from knowing just how low and slow their altitude and speeds were, respectively.

One home security camera that showed the crash from a distance provided few visual details about the configuration of the Debonair as it fell, but it did offer an audible clue: The distinct sound of the engine at high RPM can be heard in the final second of flight. Some also speculate that "rotation" can be heard in the noise, like the sound generated during a power-on spin heard at airshows.

At least one local news outlet reported that the Debonair was headed for Gunden Airport, an 1,800-foot grass strip near the accident site. The airport's owner told a reporter that the strip has been used only a handful of times in the past 20 years. We could find no official corroboration that the nearby strip had anything to do with the accident chain, but instructional flights sometimes flight plan to a waypoint airport that is an intended landing site, and Gunden was, according to locals, near the practice area. It is also possible, if engine trouble were involved, that they chose Gunden for an emergency landing but never made it.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get the latest Plane & Pilot Magazine stories delivered directly to your inbox

Subscribe to our newsletter