Beech A36TC accident near North Las Vegas, Nevada, December 25, 2003

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The pilot of the airplane declared an unspecified emergency with the air traffic control tower during his initial climb after takeoff, indicating that he needed to return for landing. A ground witness, a flight instructor, saw the airplane lift off about 1,000 feet down the runway, and watched the nose pitch up quickly to what he described as an "extremely nose high" attitude. He said the airplane began to "mush," and then leveled off. The landing gear was retracted about midfield. The airplane stopped mushing, but it was not gaining much altitude. At the end of the runway, it began turning to the right. During the turn, the nose of the airplane went up again, and the airplane began to mush. About 90 degrees through the turn, the airplane was about 250 feet above ground level, and 75 feet above power lines. About the same time, the left wing went up until the airplane approached a 90-degree angle of bank. The nose went down, and the airplane went straight into the ground. During the entire sequence, the instructor did not see any smoke, fluids, or parts coming from the airplane. The airplane was destroyed in the impact sequence and postcrash fire. No preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures were identified during an examination of the remaining wreckage. The nature of the emergency reported by the pilot was not ascertained.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.