- Date
- December 19, 1986, 21:10 local (Dec 20, 1986, 04:10 UTC)
- Place
- Billings, MT
- Injuries
- 13 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N124AVSwearingen SA226TC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19861219076049I
- Case key
- 17134
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Analysis
N124AV was operating as big sky airlines flt 3857, scheduled service from helena to Billings. The flt proceeded uneventfully until the apch into Billings. The flt crew stated after the incident that when the landing gear was extended, the left main gear lights did not illuminate, verifying the 'down and locked position..' After numerous attempts to illuminate the lights and confirm the position of the landing gear, the crew executed an intentional gear up landing. Post incident inspection of the landing gear system revealed it was capable of normal operation. The malfunctioning cockpit indicator light was traced back to an inoperative outboard downlock microswitch.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N124AV
- Reported as
- Swearingen SA226TC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TC 364
- Airframe hours
- 11,273
- Engine
- Garrett TPE331-3U303G, 904 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Big Sky Airlines
- Registered owner
- Itt Industrial Credit Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · December 19, 1986 · 36 hours before
- Departed
- HLN · Helena, MT
- Destination
- BIL · Billings, MT
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BIL · Billings Logan Int'L., runway 27R, 10,500 × 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
- 45
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,000 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 230° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 10 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BIL
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 N124AV · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.