- Date
- July 6, 1999, 15:16 local (23:16 UTC)
- Place
- Fairbanks, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N45367Cessna 177RG
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 3, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990706022319A
- Case key
- 46714
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to extend the airplane landing gear. A factor in the accident was an interference with the pilot's habit pattern.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The certificated private pilot was conducting several touch and go landings. On the fourth landing, the tower controller requested that the pilot continue the downwind portion of the landing approach. The pilot said that due to the landing pattern change, he was distracted from his normal procedures, and did not extend the landing gear. The pilot said he was running the engine about 2,000 RPM to make a crosswind landing, and the airplane's landing gear horn operates below 1,700 RPM.
Factual narrative
On July 6, 1999, about 1516 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 177RG airplane, N45367, sustained substantial damage during a gear-up landing at the Fairbanks International Airport, Fairbanks, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area personal flight when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The certificated private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on July 7, 1999, the pilot reported he was conducting several touch and go landings on runway 19L. On the fourth landing, he said he did not extend the landing gear, and the airplane slid on its belly along the runway.
In the Pilot/Operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2) filed by the pilot, he indicated that during the last approach to landing, he was operating the engine about 2,000 rpm, to provide better control to compensate for the existing crosswind. He said the landing gear retracted warning horn operates below 1,700 rpm. He said he was distracted from his normal procedures when the Fairbanks Tower controller asked him to continue the downwind portion of the landing approach.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector, Fairbanks Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), inspected the airplane on July 7, 1999. The inspection revealed damage to the propeller, and fuselage skin damage from the aft edge of the nose wheel well, to the main gear attach points.
At 1453, an Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) at the Fairbanks Airport was reporting in part: Wind, 253 degrees at 18 knots, gusts to 22 knots; visibility, 10 statute miles; clouds and sky condition, few at 5,000 feet, 7,500 feet scattered, 11,000 feet scattered, 20,000 feet broken; temperature, 75 degrees F; dew point, 56 degrees F; altimeter, 29.86 inHg.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N45367
- Reported as
- Cessna 177RG
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 177RG1113
- Airframe hours
- 1,936
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1B6W, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Benjamin J. Walden
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 20, 1999 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- PAFA
- Airport
- PAFA · Fairbanks International, runway 19L, 3,190 × 60 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 71
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,856 total · 666 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 253° at 18 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PAF
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N45367 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.