- Date
- October 14, 2002, 15:20 local (21:20 UTC)
- Place
- Englewood, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8084DMooney M20J
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Denver Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20021014028709A
- Case key
- 55949
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 complete collapse of the landing gear, during landing roll, for undetermined reasons.
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 said that when he put the landing gear down, everything "sounded and felt normal," but he had an unsafe gear indication. He made a pass over the airport, and tower personnel indicated that all three landing gear appeared to be down and locked. The pilot requested that a Mooney mechanic also confirm the position of the gear. After working with a mechanic to manually lock the gear into place, the mechanic stated that the gear did appear to be down and locked, and that most often the problem was with the indicator rather than the gear itself. Although the unsafe light was still illuminated, the pilot decided to land. During the landing roll, the gear collapsed and the airplane exited the south side of runway 28 into the dirt. According to the pilot's accident report, the reason for the collapse of the landing gear had not been determined.
Factual narrative
On October 14, 2002, at approximately 1520 mountain daylight time, a Mooney M20J, N8084D, was substantially damaged when the landing gear collapsed during landing roll at Centennial Airport, Englewood, Colorado. The private pilot and his passenger were not injured. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal cross-country flight that originated from Montrose, Colorado, approximately 2 hours before the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
The pilot said that when he put the landing gear down everything "sounded and felt normal," but he had an unsafe gear indication. He made a pass over the airport, and tower personnel indicated that all three landing gear appeared to be down and locked. The pilot requested that a mechanic (familiar with Mooney aircraft) watch him fly-by and give him his opinion on the landing gear problem. The mechanic said that "everything looked great and that ninety five percent of the time, the problem was an indicator problem, not an actual mechanical failure. Although the unsafe light was still illuminated, the pilot decided to land. During the landing roll, the gear collapsed and the airplane exited the south side of runway 28 into the dirt. The bulkhead at station 53 was bent, and the prop and engine were also damaged.
According to the pilot's accident report, the reason for the collapse of the landing gear had not been determined.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8084D
- Reported as
- Mooney M20J
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-0894
- Airframe hours
- 3,969
- Engine
- Lycoming IO 360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Steven M. Potter
- Registered owner
- Tech-Sites Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 9, 2002 · 168 hours before
- Departed
- MTJ · Montrose, CO
- Destination
- APA · Englewood, CO
- Airport
- APA · Centennial, runway 28, 4,904 × 62 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
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- August 24, 2002
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 575 total · 530 in this make and model · 480 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 36 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 12 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- APA
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.