- Date
- May 29, 1990, 21:25 local (May 30, 1990, 02:25 UTC)
- Place
- Plainfield, IL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N62869Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report September 4, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900529017829A
- Case key
- 14679
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 insure that the landing gear was extended and locked prior to touchdown.
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 stated that he was distracted from his normal procedures/checklists, while in the VFR traffic pattern at an uncontrolled airport, and that he failed to insure that the landing gear was extended and locked before touchdown. He reported that he was concerned with making a decent landing from a 'steeper-than-normal' approach at an unfamiliar airport in dark night conditions. He had moved the gear select handle down, but not FAR enough to activate the gear extend mechanism. He stated that he never looked for three green lights (to verify the gear was down and locked) until he heard a scraping noise as the aircraft touched down. The landing gear warning horn was found to operate intermitently due to dirty contact points.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N62869
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-7652145
- Airframe hours
- 4,187
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Operator
- Pullen Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Pullen Aviation, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 9, 1990 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- SIK · Sikeston, MO
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 1C5 · Clow International, runway 36, 3,370 × 50 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
- 57
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 21,000 total · 3,000 in this make and model · 20,800 as pilot in command · 168 in the last 90 days · 57 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.