King Air B90 Down, Dekalb County, All Survive, 12/28/2025

N40BA. According to FlightAware they diverted a few times. Fuel exhaustion?
 
RyanB said:
N40BA. According to FlightAware they diverted a few times. Fuel exhaustion?
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That's what I'd bet. The track looks like basically direct with a minor (in miles) detour at the end to setup for landing on 27 at McCollum. It came down in an acquaintances back yard. He reported no fire, no fuel smell... The airplane passed within a very few miles of LZU shortly before it went down. Looked like they tried to divert from McCollum to PDK at the end and came up a bit short. They came down about 10 minutes before their planned arrival.

The odd thing (to me) is they flew at 10K' for the entire trip. Isn't that low/inefficient for a pressurized turbine? I wonder if they were avoiding headwinds and burned more fuel than expected at low altitude...
 
56 year old plane. Wonder if pressurization didn’t work?

Past flights
TMB DAB 11K
TMB Nassau 11K
 
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That’s not the type of neighborhood/crash I had in mind when reading about only minor injuries. That’s impressive.
 
kyleb said:
That's what I'd bet. The track looks like basically direct with a minor (in miles) detour at the end to setup for landing on 27 at McCollum. It came down in an acquaintances back yard. He reported no fire, no fuel smell... The airplane passed within a very few miles of LZU shortly before it went down. Looked like they tried to divert from McCollum to PDK at the end and came up a bit short. They came down about 10 minutes before their planned arrival.

The odd thing (to me) is they flew at 10K' for the entire trip. Isn't that low/inefficient for a pressurized turbine? I wonder if they were avoiding headwinds and burned more fuel than expected at low altitude...
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bonefishpete said:
56 year old plane. Wonder if pressurization didn’t work?

Past flights
TMB DAB 11K
TMB Nassau 11K
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An old B90 King Air will have a hard time much above 12,000. The engines are rated at 500shp, but if old and not well maintained they won't make that. It doesn't use bleed from the engines for heat or pressurization. They really lack for performance.

The fuselages leak as well and it's very difficult to maintain pressurization. This is a 55 year old airplane with probably not the best maintenance.
 
Doc Holliday said:
An old B90 King Air will have a hard time much above 12,000. The engines are rated at 500shp, but if old and not well maintained they won't make that. It doesn't use bleed from the engines for heat or pressurization. They really lack for performance.

The fuselages leak as well and it's very difficult to maintain pressurization. This is a 55 year old airplane with probably not the best maintenance.
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…and a couple of systems that are uncommon enough that it’s a challenge finding a mechanic that can troubleshoot them.
 
Doc Holliday said:
An old B90 King Air will have a hard time much above 12,000.
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Wow! Had no idea they were so wimpy.

Doc Holliday said:
The engines are rated at 500shp, but if old and not well maintained they won't make that. It doesn't use bleed from the engines for heat or pressurization. They really lack for performance.
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What does it use for pressurization then? :dunno:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Wow! Had no idea they were so wimpy.
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The B90 I flew liked to cruise F180-220, but it was less than 15 years old then. With previous experience flying an E90 and a 200, the B90 did indeed seem wimpy by comparison; but then I flew a couple of trips in the OG of King Airs--a 65-90--and compared to that model, the B90 seemed rather spirited. After five + decades of use and who-knows-what kind of maintenance, Doc Holliday and MauleSkinner's observations may well describe the state of the airplane at the time of the accident.
flyingcheesehead said:
What does it use for pressurization then? :dunno:
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The 65-90, A90, and B90 used a compressor mounted to the engine accessory drive for pressurization. Serviceable compressor units and associated components are probably difficult to find these days, so many of the early King Airs that remain in service may be operating unpressurized.
 
A weak compressor pump coupled with a leaky fuselage make for a plane with not much pressurization. Include plumbing that probably hasn’t been touched in 50 years and it gets worse.

Then throw in an engine that’s never seen an overhaul and has had a discount “hot section” now you have engines that temp out early.

But hey, you can buy them cheap.
 
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