- Date
- March 16, 2009, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Taos, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N342RBeech D35
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 12, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Albuquerque FSDO
- FAA report
- 20090316002419A
- Case key
- 73523
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 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.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
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.
Factual narrative
The student pilot was landing at the non-towered airport after a cross country flight. He stated that he initiated 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 that he did not use his normal checklist procedure and that everything seemed to be going "too fast." 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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N342R
- Reported as
- Beech D35
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- D-3422
- Airframe hours
- 4,033
- Engine
- Continental IO-520 BB, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 11, 2008 · 50 hours before
- Departed
- E14 · Espanola, NM
- Destination
- KSKX · Taos, NM
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- KSKX · Taos Regional Airport, runway 22, 5,803 × 75 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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Last flight review
- January 1, 2009
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,800 total · 90 in this make and model · 60 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 10 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- KSKX
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.