- Date
- June 30, 2002, 08:11 local (14:11 UTC)
- Place
- Watkins, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6283UMooney M20C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 16, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20020630023349A
- Case key
- 55183
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 use the pre-landing checklist, resulting in an inadvertent wheels up landing.
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 purpose of the flight was to practice touch-and-go landings. The pilot said he "forgot to put the gear down" and landed wheels up, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane.
Factual narrative
On June 30, 2002, at 0811 mountain daylight time, a Mooney M20C, N6283U, owned and operated by the pilot, was substantially damaged when it landed gear up at Front Range Airport (FTG), Watkins, Colorado. The private pilot, the sole occupant aboard, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the local personal flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from Front Range Airport at 0755.
In a telephone interview and reiterated in his accident report, the pilot said that the purpose of the flight was to practice touch-and-go landings. He said he "forgot to put the gear down" when he made his first approach to runway 26 and landed wheels up. Damage consisted of a bent propeller, scraped panels underneath the airplane, a broken antenna, and bent ribs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6283U
- Reported as
- Mooney M20C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2122
- Airframe hours
- 2,528.5
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Roger L. Keithley
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 9, 2001 · 68.6 hours before
- Departed
- FTG · Watkins, CO
- Airport
- FTG · Front Range, runway 26, 8,000 × 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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 139 total · 59 in this make and model · 85 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- DEN, 9 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 7, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 408 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.
Other investigations on N6283U · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.