- Date
- September 23, 1990, 10:46 local (15:46 UTC)
- Place
- Cape Girardeau, MO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N752CFPiper PA-3O
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900923050579I
- Case key
- 14559
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
Excessive play in the landing gear extension linkage. A factor in the incident was unreliability of the gear indicating system.
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 pilot states he obtained no gear movement on selecting gear down. When the switch was recycled, the landing gear extended but the gear down indicator did not illuminate. Tower reported the gear appeared to be down. The pilot then used manual extension to lower the gear and reports he obtained a down locked light. The landing gear retracted during landing rollout. Examination revealed excessive play in the left and right main gear linkage. The left main gear extended but would not achieve over-center in the down position using manual extension. A wire to the left gear down switch was broken within its insulation; in an area where the wire flexes as the gear cycles. Later production airplanes include a landing gear down safety device to mechanically lock the gear down when extended manually. The device may be fitted to earlier airplanes, and its availability was announced in 1973 in a service spares letter.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N752CF
- Reported as
- Piper PA-3O
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30-592
- Airframe hours
- 4,246
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-B1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Public aircraft · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Wendall & Jean Durr
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 1989 · 136 hours before
- Departed
- ALN · Alton, IL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- GGI · Cape Girardeau Muni, runway 2, 3,996 × 100 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,600 total · 100 in this make and model · 60 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CGI
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N752CF · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.