Beechcraft King Air E90 crashes onto hangar roof after fuel exhaustion during go-around
Investigation into New Century accident finds pilots took off despite prohibitive indication from wing-tank gauges. US investigators have determined that fuel exhaustion resulted in a Beechcraft King Air E90's crashing onto the roof of a Kansas hangar during a go-around last year. The type's flight manual prohibits take-off if the fuel gauge indications are within a yellow caution band, indicating zero to 260lb (118kg). Both the flight instructor and pilot-under-instruction on board testified to the National Transportation Safety Board that the right- and left-hand wing tanks were registering within this band. Despite this observation, they proceeded with the flight. The instructor believed there was 300lb of fuel in the left tank and 250lb in the right, while the pilot thought each tank had 150-200lb. Neither visually checked the tanks, according to the pilot under instruction's testimony, while the instructor stated he was unaware whether the King Air had minimum fuel requirements for take-off. The inquiry could not determine how much fuel was on board when the aircraft departed Butler, Missouri, for New Century airport — a flight of about 16min — where it turned onto the base leg for final approach to runway 18. But the aircraft slowed to below Vmc, the minimum control speed, and this led the pilot to increase power. The aircraft began yawing to the left and the instructor, suspecting the left engine had flamed out from fuel starvation, took control, retracting the landing-gear and flaps. He rolled the aircraft to the right but did not feather the left-hand propeller, believing the engine was still generating limited thrust. In spite of the instructor's actions, the aircraft continued turning left. Although it was heading for a hangar the instructor thought the aircraft was accelerating sufficiently to clear the structure, and did not turn back towards the runway. "The airplane impacted the hangar and came to rest on the roof," says the inquiry, adding that the E90 (N1UC) was badly damaged. Both pilots survived the 16 June 2025 accident. Examination of the left and right wing tanks, which were not breached, showed they respectively contained 3floz (90ml) and 30floz of fuel. The inquiry says this was "likely insufficient" to perform a go-around and re-enter the pattern on a single engine.