- Date
- October 24, 2023, 16:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Savoy, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5331NPiper PA-44-180
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20231024015259A
- Case key
- 193319
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 landing gear before landing and the flight instructor’s inadequate supervision to ensure that the landing gear was extended.
Findings · 5
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
During a multi-engine instructional flight, the flight instructor simulated an engine failure at the final approach fix. The pilot receiving instruction focused on maintaining control of the airplane and neither the pilot nor the flight instructor verified that the landing gear was extended. During the landing, they realized that the landing gear was still retracted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. A postaccident examination of the landing gear system by a mechanic revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The instructor stated that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5331N
- Reported as
- Piper PA-44-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4496106
- Built
- 2001
- Airframe hours
- 3,959.3
- Engines
- Lycoming LO-360-A1H6, 180 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming O-360-A1H6, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- University of Illinois
- Registered owner
- University of Illinois
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 2, 2023
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- CMI · Willard Airport, runway 22, 6,502 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 29, 2023
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 5,416 total · 170 in this make and model · 2,607 as pilot in command · 116 in the last 90 days · 81 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 27, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 224 total · 9 in this make and model · 169 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- KCMI
- METAR
- KCMI 242053Z 18015KT 10SM OVC110 23/12 A3010
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 21, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.9 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.