NTSB Factual Report

On July 13, 2017, about 2010 mountain daylight time, a Beech D55 twin-engine airplane, N1796A, landed hard and ground looped after touchdown on runway 31 at Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN), Hailey, Idaho. The airplane was registered to A-S Ranch Inc. and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that departed from a Caldwell, Idaho, airport at an unknown time. A flight plan was not filed.

The pilot reported that the throttles were not mechanically rigged correctly, and were not aligned with each other, but he elected to fly the airplane with this condition. As he approached the airport from the southeast to land on runway 31, he realized that the airplane was too high. He reduced the power to lose altitude, and decided that he could still land safely on the runway. While on approach the airplane drifted to the right of centerline so he added power to go around. However, due to the mis-rigged throttles, he added too much power to the left engine, which increased the drift to the right. The pilot was able to return the airplane to a wings level attitude, but the nose was pitched up too high, and the airplane landed hard. The right-wing tip struck the runway, and the airplane ground looped.