Bonanza F33A N8032X Fatal Crash in Brooklyn Park | Was This a Turnback?

Added: 2026-05-03

[00:00:00]North Dakota state representative Liz Conmy and her partner Dr. Joseph Cass, who was reportedly the pilot, were killed after their Beechcraft F33A Bonanza November 8032X [music] Ray went down shortly after departing Crystal Airport near Minneapolis. The flight was expected to be a routine hop to Park Rapids, about 130 mi north.

[00:00:23]Instead, the airplane came down in a park just outside [music] the airport boundary. Let's take a closer look.

[00:00:34]Early reports point to several technical clues. A garbled radio call, a clearance to land on any runway, a left turn shortly after departure, and a noticeable drop in speed before impact.

[00:00:46]Out of all of that, the cleanest signal we've got here is the speed trend. So, let's start with it. ADSB shows the airplane at roughly 900 ft and about 85 kn ground speed when the turn begins. A short time later, it's near 950 ft, but speed has dropped into the mid-70s. The last data point still sits around that same altitude, now down to about 71 kn near the accident site. So, what you're seeing is a small gain in altitude paired with a steady loss of speed all while the airplane is maneuvering with no sign of acceleration or recovery before the track ends. Now, ground speed isn't the same as indicated airspeed.

[00:01:25]Wind can shift those numbers around.

[00:01:27]ADSB doesn't give you the full cockpit picture, but the direction of the trend still matters, especially this close to the ground. The airplane is slowing down over time, and that's not something you can ignore in this phase of flight. What this starts to look like is an airplane that's no longer holding a stable energy state. You can think of it in basic terms. Altitude is stored energy.

[00:01:51]Airspeed is usable energy. In this case, altitude ticks up a bit, but speed drops more noticeably. That suggests the airplane may have been trading speed to hold or gain a little height. That kind of trade can work briefly. It becomes a problem when there isn't enough thrust available to stabilize afterward. In a normal climb, the airplane has excess thrust. It can climb and still hold or build speed. Here, the pattern points to something different. At some point, the airplane may have slipped into a condition where drag demand was higher than what the available thrust could support. That doesn't tell you exactly why. It doesn't prove an engine problem.

[00:02:30]It just tells you the balance wasn't there anymore. There are a few ways you can end up in that situation. Power might be reduced or inconsistent, drag could be building from maneuvering or pitch, or it could be several smaller factors stacking together. The data doesn't isolate one cause, but it does show the outcome. And that outcome is what matters. The airplane gained a little altitude, but the speed trend is going the other way. That suggests the climb may have been coming out of stored energy, not a comfortable power margin.

[00:03:02]From a flying standpoint, that's a key distinction. A full engine failure forces a very direct response. You lower the nose, protect airspeed, and commit to a landing area. There's not much ambiguity. A partial or degraded performance situation can be harder to read in real time. The airplane may still climb briefly. It may still feel responsive, but the margin is shrinking underneath you. That's why the speed trend carries more weight here than the small altitude gain. Right after takeoff, climb rate alone doesn't tell you much. What matters is whether the airplane can sustain both climb and speed at the same time. If that balance starts slipping, the airplane is already working against itself. Once that happens, any added demand becomes more difficult to support. And in this case, the next demand comes in the form of a turn.

[00:03:57]The second major piece is the left turn shortly after departure. Looking at the track, it lines up with what could be a return toward the airport or a repositioning maneuver. But the data doesn't tell you intent, and it doesn't show the exact aerodynamic state. What it does show is the path the airplane took and how its speed changed while flying that path. When you combine those two, you get a clearer sense of the situation the airplane was in. Turning flight always asks more from the airplane than straight flight. The wings have to produce additional lift to support both the airplane's weight and the force required to change direction.

[00:04:33]That increase in lift comes with a higher angle of attack and more induced drag. If the pilot is trying to hold altitude in the turn, the demand increases further. Now, layer that onto what we already saw. The airplane is already losing speed. There's no indication of recovery or acceleration.

[00:04:51]At that same moment, it's being asked to generate more lift and deal with more drag. That combination tightens the margin quickly. This is where the Bonanza's characteristics come into play. The F33A is a clean, efficient airframe. It carries speed well and responds smoothly to control inputs. In normal conditions, [music] that makes it a very capable airplane. In a situation like this, it can also mean the airplane still feels manageable while the underlying margin is getting smaller. In a slower, draggy trainer, the cues tend to show up earlier. You feel the airplane running out of performance. In a cleaner airplane, the outside picture can still look acceptable while things are trending the wrong way. So, you can have an airplane that still feels controllable, but has less room left to recover. The crash location adds another layer. The airplane went down less than a quarter mile from the airport boundary. On a map, that sounds close, but reachability in flight isn't just about distance. To get back to a runway, the airplane has to meet several conditions at once. It needs enough speed to maintain control, enough altitude to complete the turn, a turn radius that fits the geometry, and a way to align with something usable on the ground. If any of those fall short, being close doesn't help. As speed drops during a turn, the tradeoffs become sharper. Increase the bank and the turn tightens, but the load on the wings goes up, raising stall speed and drag. Reduce the bank and the turn widens, which may take the airplane away from where it needs to be. Lower the nose to regain speed and altitude starts to disappear.

[00:06:29]And at this height, there isn't much altitude to work with.

[00:06:32]Each adjustment solves one part of the problem and creates another. Those are built-in limits. They're part of how the airplane behaves in that regime. This is why turnback maneuvers are usually practiced under controlled conditions with known altitude, configuration, and performance margins. The numbers vary by airplane, weight, and environment. A Bonanza just after takeoff, possibly carrying a full fuel load, and already showing a declining energy trend is not operating with the same margins as a planned maneuver at altitude. So, when you look at this track, the most accurate way to describe it is this. The geometry shows several features pilots associate with failed turnback scenarios, low altitude, a turn shortly after takeoff, decreasing speed during the maneuver, and no visible recovery before the track ends. That doesn't confirm what the pilot was trying to do.

[00:07:25]It doesn't assign a cause, but it does describe the aerodynamic situation the airplane appears to have been in. And the practical takeaway is straightforward. The airplane can be physically close to the airport and still not have the combination of speed, altitude, and turning capability needed to get back in a controlled way. The runway may still be in sight, but the airplane still has to meet the physics required to use it. All right, that's going to do it for this one. [music] Investigation is still ongoing, so when the NTSB report drops, we're doing [music] a full breakdown. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it.

[00:08:01]And if you've got questions or you're seeing something in the data I didn't cover, drop it in the comments. I read all of them. Stay safe, [music] and I'll see you in the next one.