- Date
- February 11, 1991, 15:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Lansing, MI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Other
- Aircraft
- N270KTHuddleston/Becktold Glasair
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910211002079A
- Case key
- 14828
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
Failure of the instructor pilot (CFI) to maintain sufficient airspeed on final approach to flare the aircraft for landing. Factors related to the accident were: the landing gear malfunction, and the cfi's improperly planned approach.
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 owner/plt & an instructor (CFI) were on a flt to checkout the owner in the acft. While cycling the landing gear in flt, they were unable to get a safe down-&-locked indcn by using the normal sys. A down-&-locked indcn was obtained by using the manual sys. The CFI recommended that drg an apch for landing, the engine be shut down to minimize damage to the eng, in the event that the landing gear should collapse. The owner agreed, but suggested that the CFI make the landing. The CFI took control of the acft. He rprtd that he shut down the eng when the acft was about 500' AGL 'over the numbers.' An excessive sink rate developed, and the CFI tried to flare the acft for landing, but it touched down hard. The rgt main gear leg was jammed into the wing, which pierced a fuel cell & created a fuel leak. The fuel ignited drg the landing skid & the acft's rgt side was extensively damaged by fire.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N270KT
- Reported as
- Huddleston/Becktold Glasair
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 3022
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-S1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Patrick L. Quain
- Registered owner
- Patrick L. Quain
- Airport
- LAN · Capital City, runway 28L, 7,250 × 150 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
- 49
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,218 total · 153 in this make and model · 1,076 as pilot in command · 96 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,600 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- LAN, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.