- Date
- September 17, 2001, 20:23 local (Sep 18, 2001, 01:23 UTC)
- Place
- Bessemer, AL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9455MCessna 210K
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report August 28, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviatiion Administration
- FAA report
- 20010917026279A
- Case key
- 53488
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
Failure of the landing gear-down lock mechanism, which resulted in the pilot's inability to control the airplane. A factor was the trees.
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
According to the pilot, during landing roll, the airplane drifted to the right. The pilot applied left rudder and brakes, which failed to correct the right drift. The airplane then suddenly banked to the right and departed the runway and impacted trees. Examination of the airplane found the right main landing gear was collapsed. The horizontal stabilizer, empennage, wings, ailerons, and lower fuselage sustained damage. Additional examination found a faulty down-lock switch in the right main landing gear.
Factual narrative
On September 17, 2001, at 2023 central daylight time, a Cessna 210K, N9455M, registered to Air Carriers, Inc., and operated by the commercial pilot, collided with trees off the right side of runway 23 during landing roll following a collapse of the right main landing gear at the Bessemer Airport, in Bessemer, Alabama. The cargo flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 135 with an IFR flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot was not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight originated in Gainesville, Georgia, at 1930.
According to the pilot, the approach and touchdown were normal with the green landing gear light illuminated. During landing roll, the pilot began slowing the airplane and it started drifting to the right. The pilot applied left rudder and brakes, which failed to correct the right drift. The airplane then suddenly banked to the right and departed the runway and impacted trees. Before exiting the airplane, the pilot noticed the green landing gear light was still illuminated.
Examination of the airplane found the right main landing gear was collapsed. The horizontal stabilizer, empennage, wings, ailerons, and lower fuselage sustained damage. Additional examination found a faulty down-lock switch in the right main landing gear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9455M
- Reported as
- Cessna 210K
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21059355
- Airframe hours
- 3,697
- Engine
- Continental IO-520L, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Air Carriers Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 15, 2001 · 69 hours before
- Departed
- GVL · Gainsville, GA
- Destination
- EKY · Bessemer, AL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- EKY · Bessemer, runway 23, 5,700 × 100 ft, concrete
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
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,219 total · 275 in this make and model · 1,155 as pilot in command · 204 in the last 90 days · 119 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- ANB, 75 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.