- Date
- January 22, 2025, 22:50 local (Jan 23, 2025, 04:50 UTC)
- Place
- Arcola, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N44BNEpic E1000
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA - Houston, TX FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250122000269A
- Case key
- 199592
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’s 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 pilot reported that he thought he put the landing gear down on the base leg of the traffic pattern before the landing. It was dark with no wind and his approach and landing flare were normal with no indication of any issues until the airplane began to vibrate and he heard noise from the propeller and saw sparks. The pilot realized he had forgotten to extend the landing gear. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The pilot said that thinking back on the sequence of events that he could not recall hearing any type of aural warning from the avionics indicating that the landing gear was not extended. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44BN
- Reported as
- Epic E1000
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- K077
- Built
- 2024
- Airframe hours
- 40
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6, 1,200 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hes Leasing Company LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- KCRQ · Carlsbad, CA
- Destination
- KAXH · Houston, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- AXH · Houston Southwest Airport, runway 27, 5,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, Onboard weather, Satellite tracking device, Stall warning system, ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator, Auto-pilot
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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 6, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 2,452 total · 22 in this make and model · 72 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.37 inHg
- Observed at
- KAXH
- METAR
- KAXH 230255Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 00/M01 A3037 RMK AO2 T00041009
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 20, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 51.5 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.