[MindBender26]

"Eyewitnesses say the plane flipped during take-off.

Then it nose-dived into the US Airways Hangar near the runway. "

Sounding a lot like a very typical "Lose engine-Stall-Spin-Crash-Burn" accident.

Aircraft like this are very marginal on one engine. In many twin engine aircraft, if you lose one engine at critical moments of takeoff, best plan in to chop the other one and land straight ahead (in trees if needed), right side up, and slow, rather than trying to go around on one engine, getting below critical single engine speed and getting into a stall-spin, crash upside down and fast accident.

[expatpat]

Yeah, mindbender, your analysis is the most probable until we learn more.

Some people say a twin is safer than single-engine because you've got a back-up engine, but in many cases the single is safer because an engine-out doesn't put you in an unusual attitiude close to the ground. I guess the twin is safer if you lose an engine at night at altitude, a single safer if you lose the engine on take-off.

[Dead Dog]

Hey, this looks on the surface to be a Vmc incident. However it doesn't all add up.

What you said is true for some light piston twins, but a turbo prop has much better power loading. Being that the weather was cold, and in NC, they didn't have a density altitude problem. I'm not an expert on the Beech 1900, but I question wether or not a Vmc issue is really present. Most modern twins have a Vmc below Vs (especially clean). Not to mention how rare it is to lose a turbo prop due to a mechanical.

I would guess either a suicide, medical incapacitation of the pilot, control failure(? freaking rare, but they have been rigged wrong/opposite), structural failure or the dreaded T word.

[Mamzelle]

Heard on Fox that this Raytheon commuter plane is of a similar and related make to that King Air that Wellstone crashed in.