Pilot Debrief

BEECH 200 near Clearwater, FL — 2016-01-04

Final reportERA16CA080
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Date
2016-01-04
Location
Clearwater, FL, USA
Airport
PIE
Aircraft
BEECH 200
Registration
N275X
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Approach

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to properly configure the airplane's landing gear prior to landing, which resulted in a gear-up landing.

NTSB narrative

The pilot of the multiengine turbine-powered airplane departed on a positioning flight to a nearby airport to have the flaps examined. The pilot performed the landing checklist, which included extending the landing gear when the airplane was about 7 miles from the destination airport. Upon contacting the control tower, he was informed that the airplane was number two to land and was provided a vector for sequencing. After about 4 minutes, the pilot was instructed to turn toward the airport and cleared to land. The pilot stated that during his preparation for a no flap landing, he forgot that he had retracted and not subsequently lowered the landing gear. During the landing flare, the control tower stated "gear" and he attempted to abort the landing; however, the airplane contacted the runway and slid to a stop, about 2,500 feet beyond the beginning of the runway. A fuel bladder leak resulted in a fire in the area of the left engine nacelle and substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot stated that he did not hear a landing gear warning horn prior to the accident. According to the airplane flight manual, the landing gear warning would activate intermittently with the gear not down below a certain power setting. Postaccident damage precluded a functional check of the landing gear warning system; however, the pilot stated that he utilized additional power during the no flap landing and that he did not recall the specific power setting used. He further reported about 12,600 hours of total flight experience, which included about 955 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Human factors
First missed decision gate
Pilot forgot to lower landing gear during preparation for no flap landing.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 4 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents4

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