- Date
- October 28, 2021, 12:10 local (16:10 UTC)
- Place
- Robbinsville, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N281FJack A Frohbieter Questair Venture
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- 20211028018319A
- Case key
- 104190
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 extend the landing gear prior to landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to utilize the aircraft checklist.
Findings · 3
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
According to the pilot, during his approach to land he was distracted by an air traffic conflict. As he monitored the conflict, he said that he forgot to use his pre-landing checklist and subsequently failed to extend the landing gear. He believed that he had an opportunity to catch the problem but was concerned about the other aircraft in the traffic pattern. The airplane landed gear up and slid to a stop on the runway. The pilot did not report any anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The Federal Aviation Administration inspector who responded to the scene confirmed the structural damage to the belly of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N281F
- Reported as
- Jack A Frohbieter Questair Venture (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 70
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 76
- Engine
- Continental IO-550-G1B, 280 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · June 14, 2021 · 9 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- N87 · Trenton-Robbinsville, runway 11/29, 4,275 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Data recorder, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Handheld GPS, Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 85
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Last flight review
- September 15, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 3,818 total · 76 in this make and model · 3,600 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.96 inHg
- Observed at
- KTTN, 11 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KTTN 281453Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/07 A2996 RMK AO2 SLP140 T01280067 51004=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 18, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.3 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.