On Friday, March 21,  A tragic plane crash occurred in Greenville, North Carolina. At roughly 8:50 in the morning, a Beechcraft Bonanza crash landed just 4 minutes after taking off from Pitt Greenville Airport. A beloved Greenville dentist and his wife were on the plane and died in the crash. When I saw this crash I immediately thought back to my first story of the school year,  about a Beechcraft Bonanza that crashed on a highway in Greensboro, North Carolina. The cause of that crash was engine failure. This crash in Greenville is still under investigation by the FAA, but the circumstances suggest engine failure was a likely cause. In my previous story, I defended the safety of airplane flights despite the many incidents that occur. But given the similar nature of these crashes, I have to wonder, Are Beechcraft Bonanaza’s the problem?

One heavy criticism of the plane is its “V-Tail” model which can cause structural issues and loss of control mid-flight. Another issue could be the single-engine. While sources online say that pilots are trained to handle engine failure situations and that the plane is unlikely to lose engine power, it seems that is not always the case. Whatever the reason for the crashes, I think it is important to the safety of all recreational pilots that the FAA figure out what is occurring and whether the Bonanaza is at fault or not.