- Date
- August 25, 2022, 16:48 local (20:48 UTC)
- Place
- Georgetown, DE
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5132CCessna T210N
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- 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
- FAA report
- 20220825015439A
- Case key
- 105934
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 before landing. Contributing to the accident was an inoperative landing gear warning horn.
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, he was distracted by communications difficulties due to issues with the airplane’s headset jacks while conducting an instrument approach. The pilot reported that the landing gear warning horn did not alert him as to the gear being in the “up” position and, in the resulting landing, he did not lower the landing gear. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the landing gear warning horn was inoperative.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5132C
- Reported as
- Cessna T210N
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21063708
- Built
- 1979
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520, 270 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Bernard A Heckman Md Pa
- Registered owner
- Bernard A Heckman Md Pa
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 2022
- Departed
- GAI · Gaithersburg, MD
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- GED · Delaware Coastal, runway 04, 5,500 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather
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
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Last flight review
- December 15, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 6,660 total · 4,960 in this make and model · 6,600 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.08 inHg
- Observed at
- GED
- METAR
- KGED 251454Z AUTO 31004KT 10SM CLR 31/18 A3008 RMK AO2 SLP185 T03110178 53005
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 13, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.8 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.
Other investigations on N5132C · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.