February 09, Palo Alto, Calif. / Beech Bonanza

At 14:12 Pacific time, a Beech A36 struck its left wing on the ground during an attempted go-around at Palo Alto Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot had owned the airplane, equipped with an Allison 250-17 turboprop engine, for six months and had been receiving dual instruction in it, but his insurance company would not allow him to fly solo until he earned an instrument rating, which he did two days before the accident flight. This was the pilots first solo flight in the airplane. The pilot said he extended downwind for spacing on a slower airplane. The final approach was stable at 80 knots but when he was about 10 feet off the ground he sensed the airplane was sinking faster than normal. He added power to go around but did not feel the engine respond. The airplane veered left, the left wing struck the ground and the airplane crashed. The flaps appeared to be up.