- Date
- July 4, 2002, 09:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Monroe, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3545RBeech A-23-23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 13, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20020704038229A
- Case key
- 55215
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 misjudging the flare, and his loss of directional control during landing. The soft terrain was a factor.
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
The airplane was damaged when the nose landing gear collapsed during landing. The pilot reported that he was practicing takeoffs and landings when, on the fourth landing, "... [the pilot] must have flared [too] soon causing the airplane to bounce at touchdown." The airplane then went off the right side of the runway where, "the nosewheel dug into the terrain causing it to collapse and the airplane to go nose down."
Factual narrative
On July 4, 2002, at 0930 eastern daylight time, a Beech A-23-23, N3545R, piloted by a private pilot, sustained substantial damage when the nose landing gear collapsed during landing on runway 03 (5,000 feet by 100 feet, asphalt), at the Custer Airport, Monroe, Michigan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91 and was not on a flight plan. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, was not injured. The local flight originated at an undetermined time.
The pilot reported that he was practicing takeoffs and landings when, on the fourth landing, "... [the pilot] must have flared [too] soon causing the airplane to bounce at touchdown." The airplane then went off the right side of the runway where, "the nosewheel dug into the terrain causing it to collapse and the airplane to go nose down."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3545R
- Reported as
- Beech A-23-23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- M-801
- Engine
- Continental IO-346A, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Cklm Lllc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- TTF · Monroe, MI
- Airport
- TTF · Custer, runway 03
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 111 total · 4 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 3, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 396 KB 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.