Date:	Friday 23 May 2008
Time:	01:24
Type:	Beechcraft 1900C
Owner/operator:	Alpine Aviation
Registration:	N195GA
MSN:	UB-65
Year of manufacture:	1986
Total airframe hrs:	34650 hours
Cycles:	48452 flights
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	5 km NE of Billings-Logan International Airport, MT (BIL) -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Cargo
Departure airport:	Billings-Logan International Airport, MT (BIL/KBIL)
Destination airport:	Great Falls International Airport, MT (GTF/KGTF)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The Beech 1900C carried 5,000 pounds of first-class and priority mail on a flight from Billings (BIL) to Great Falls (GTF). The pilot departed from runway 10L, and then took up a heading of about 070 degrees, as he had been cleared. Soon thereafter he was advised that his transponder was squawking a visual flight rules (VFR) code of 1200. After he corrected that, he was given a climb limit of 16,000 feet, and told to turn left to a heading of 310 degrees, which he did. He was then instructed to turn further left to 290 degrees, to intercept Victor 187 (a low altitude airway), and to then resume his own navigation. The pilot responded to that clearance, but according to the radar data, the airplane started a slow right turn.
About 45 seconds after the last radio contact, the departure controller advised the pilot that he had lost radar contact. There was no response from the pilot to that transmission. The airplane impacted the ground in a construction yard near the north edge of a cinderblock building. The impact was followed by an extensive fire. The crash was just west of the intersection of Main Street and Jerrie Lane.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during the initial climb for undetermined reasons."

FAA
Mail plane crashes near Main Street in Billings; pilot killed (Billings Gazette, 23-5-2008)
NTSB

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