- Date
- July 30, 2021, 10:40 local (14:40 UTC)
- Place
- Readington, NJ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N44DBBeech K35
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210730012209A
- Case key
- 103610
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 failure of the forward end of the landing gear actuator rod.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
On the base leg of the traffic pattern, the pilot lowered the landing gear and the green landing gear indicator light illuminated. During the subsequent landing, the main gear touched down, and “the nose came down like normal but kept going down with a sudden bang.” The airplane slid off the runway, came to rest in the grass, and sustained substantial damage to the forward lower fuselage. Examination of the airplane revealed that forward end of the landing gear actuator rod was fractured. The failure resulted in insufficient tension to keep the over-center down lock assembly in place.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44DB
- Reported as
- Beech K35
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- D-6074
- Built
- 1959
- Airframe hours
- 4,472
- Engine
- Continental IO-470N, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2021 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- JNX · Smithfield, NC
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- N51 · Solberg-Hunterdon, runway 22, 5,598 × 50 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 29, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,429 total · 600 in this make and model · 1,263 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 9 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.81 inHg
- Observed at
- SMQ, 4 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KSMQ 301453Z AUTO 32007KT 9SM FEW041 26/17 A2981 RMK AO2 SLP093 T02560172 51012=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 4, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 12.9 MB 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.