Pilot Debrief

BEECH D35 near Taos, NM — 2009-03-16

Final reportCEN09CA223
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Date
2009-03-16
Location
Taos, NM, USA
Airport
KSKX
Aircraft
BEECH D35
Registration
N342R
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0

Probable cause

The failure of the student pilot to complete the before landing checklist. Contributing to the accident was his failure to lower the landing gear before landing.

NTSB narrative

The student pilot was landing at the non-towered airport after a cross country flight, when he made a "short approach", did not use any flaps, and kept an approach speed that was about 30 knots faster than normal. The student pilot said he didn't use his normal checklist procedure and that everything seemed to be going "too fast" when the airplane landed on the asphalt runway with the landing gear retracted and the skin on the belly of the fuselage was ground down to the main keel. There was no injury to the solo student pilot, but substantial damage to the fuselage structure.

NTSB coding

View NTSB final report

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