| Crash location | 35.802222°N, 88.864444°W |
| Nearest city | Humboldt, TN
35.819792°N, 88.915895°W 3.1 miles away |
| Tail number | N2339J |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 18 Oct 2015 |
| Aircraft type | Beech 23 |
| Additional details: | None |
On October 18, 2015 at 0745 central daylight time, a Beechcraft 23, N2339J, lost engine power and made a forced landing in a field near the Humboldt Municipal Airport (M53) Humboldt, Tennessee. The certificated fight instructor and student pilot were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damaged. The airplane was registered to Old School Aircraft, LLC and operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions were reported near the accident site, and no flight plan was filed.
The student pilot arrived to the airplane and conducted his preflight, and confirmed oil and fuel quantities of 6 quarts and 33 gallons respectively. The fuel was strained and the indications appeared normal. When the flight instructor arrived a short time later, they verified the fuel and oil quantities again.
After preflight and engine start, the instructor pilot stated "no abnormalities were noted." They taxied to the active runway for takeoff. At an altitude of approximately 950 feet agl, the engine started to lose power and sounded like it was "missing" according to the student pilot. The engine was only generating partial power.
The instructor pilot took over the controls, checked the fuel, magnetos and applied carburetor heat with no change. He made a right turn back to the departure airport in order to avoid a residential area immediately north of the airport. The pilot made a series of S-turns to loose altitude and land on runway 22, at M53, but realizing that a highway was immediately off the arrival end of runway 4, and there was a possibility of landing long, he elected to land in a bean field.
During landing roll in the field, the nose gear sheared off after striking an incline, which resulted in the nose of the aircraft to striking the ground causing damage to the firewall. Federal Aviation Inspectors arrived on scene and inspected the airplane and noted substantial damage.
The airplane was recovered and retained for further examination.