Pilot Debrief

PIPER PA 24-250 near Silver City, NM — 2014-01-03

Final reportCEN14LA107
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Date
2014-01-03
Location
Silver City, NM, USA
Airport
SVC
Aircraft
PIPER PA 24-250
Registration
N6767P
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

The collapse of the landing gear during landing for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examinations.

NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he lowered the landing gear and observed gear-down indications before touchdown; however, the landing gear collapsed during the landing. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that all three landing gear had collapsed; no anomalies in the extension/retraction linkage were found. The airplane owner reported that, during recovery of the airplane, he had adjusted the nose landing gear actuating rod for the nose gear to fully seat on the stop flats. Additionally, the landing gear had been serviced during the most recent annual inspection, which was about 24 flight hours before the accident. Although it is possible that the landing gear was not properly adjusted after the maintenance work, several flights had been conducted in the interim without any reported issues related to the landing gear system. Postaccident examinations revealed that the nose landing gear down lock switch was improperly mounted upside down and that the limit switch was stuck in the closed position. The inoperative nose landing gear switch would have provided a gear down/locked indication to the pilot regardless of the nose landing gear condition. It is possible that the nose landing gear did not fully extend and lock down before landing due to either the inoperative limit switch or a slight misrigging of the system. However, because the landing gear was operated by the transmission jackscrew, it is unlikely that an issue with the nose landing gear would have caused a collapse of the main landing gear if the main landing gear was fully extended and locked in the down position. The reason for the landing gear collapse could not be determined.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Mechanical failure
First missed decision gate
Properly checking landing gear functionality before flight could have prevented the accident.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 5 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents5

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