- Date
- November 25, 1990, 16:50 local (23:50 UTC)
- Place
- Erie, CO
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4557EGulfstream AA-5B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report February 12, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901125060659A
- Case key
- 18056
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
Improper flare by the pilot, which resulted in a hard landing. A realted factor was: low light condition at dusk.
Analysis
The private pilot was flying two passengers on a round trip cross country flight. According to the pilot, he had the brakes repaired at el paso, Texas, and was distracted by worry over the brakes ability to stop on the down hill runway. He reported that he made a normal approach to runway 27, and flared high because of the darkness, resulting in a hard landing. The plane bounced back into the air, the pilot added power and made a go-around. He said the engine vibrated badly, and he assumed the propeller struck the runway, either during the hard landing or as he added power. On the second approach, at touchdown, the nose gear collapsed, the plane departed the runway, sheared the main gear and came to rest nose down. The right wing was bent back, both wing spars, the fuselage and tail section were damaged. The investigation revealed the main landing gear legs were over stressed and the lower fuselage was crushed inward.
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
- N4557E
- Reported as
- Gulfstream AA-5B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AA-5B-1230
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4K, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Donald S. Meinen
- Departed
- TAD · Trinidad, CO
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- 48V · Tri County, runway 27, 3,800 × 60 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
- 26
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 85 total · 9 in this make and model · 45 in the last 90 days · 60 in the last 30 days · 9 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 240° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
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 N4557E · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.