NTSB Identification: ATL03FA009

Accident occurred Wednesday, October 23, 2002 at Jesup, GA
Aircraft:Beech A60, registration: N73CR
Injuries: 2 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On October 23, 2002, at 2128 eastern daylight time, a modified experimental Beechcraft A60, N73CR, registered to Duke Aircraft Corporation and operated by the pilot, collided with terrain and burst into flames during an emergency landing at the Jesup - Wayne County Airport in Jesup, Georgia. The personal flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with an instrument flight rules flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The Canadian-licensed airline transport pilot and the U.S.-certificated private pilot-rated passenger received fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The flight departed Delaware County - Johnson Field in Muncie, Indiana, at 1828.

According to air traffic control records, the airplane was in cruise flight in the vicinity of Reidsville, Georgia, when the pilot reported an engine problem and requested nearest airport information. The pilot was provided runway information for both the Reidsville Airport in Reidsville, Georgia, and the Jesup - Wayne County Airport in Jesup, Georgia. The pilot elected to proceed to the Jesup - Wayne County Airport, then declared an emergency and reported the airplane's right engine was surging. The pilot also stated the airplane could not climb. After the pilot reported the airport was in sight, air traffic controllers received no further contact. Local law enforcement and rescue personnel who were dispatched to the airport observed the airplane on the ground in flames.

Initial examination of the accident site revealed the wreckage was located in a grassy field adjacent to the left side of runway 28. The wreckage was found approximately 450 feet south of runway center line and 1,200 feet from the runway 28 threshold. Wreckage debris was consumed by fire and scattered along a 67-foot path on a 275-degree magnetic heading from the initial impact point. The airplane was equipped with two experimental EngineAIR Power Systems liquid-cooled, turbocharged, V8 engines with experimental MT Propeller four-bladed wooden propellers. The propeller for the right engine was found in the feathered position.