- Date
- December 16, 2021, 17:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Houston, TX
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N19VSPiper PA-30
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- Case key
- 104446
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 instructed pilot and the flight instructor’s failure to extend the landing gear before landing resulting in a wheels up landing.
Findings · 4
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 flight instructor reported that he and the pilot receiving instruction and flying the airplane were returning to land after a multi-engine training flight. As the airplane touched down on the runway, they heard a scraping noise. The airplane settled onto its belly and came to a stop. The pilots exited the airplane and saw that the airplane’s landing gear was not extended. The flight instructor reentered the airplane and saw that the landing gear circuit breaker was popped. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Functionality tests of the normal and emergency landing gear extension/retraction systems and landing gear configuration light did not reveal any anomalies. The flight instructor reported that there were no other preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N19VS
- Reported as
- Piper PA-30
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-144
- Built
- 1964
- Airframe hours
- 8,075
- Engines
- Lycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Gardner James R
- Registered owner
- Gardner James R
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 1, 2021
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- EFD · Ellington Field, runway 17R, 9,001 × 150 ft, concrete
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Handheld GPS, Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2020
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 6,576 total · 1,996 in this make and model · 72 in the last 90 days · 26 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 20, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 287 total · 1 in this make and model · 13 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 140° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EFD, 20 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 15, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.3 MB in all.