- Date
- January 12, 2025, 09:15 local (14:15 UTC)
- Place
- Orange, MA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N8BZConsolidated Aeronautics Lake LA-4-200
- Defining event
- Approach: Sys/Comp malf/fail (non-power)
- 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
- 20250112001749A
- Case key
- 199579
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
Failure of the left main landing gear to fully extend and lock for undetermined reasons as a functional test of the landing gear system could not duplicate the anomaly.
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
The pilot of the amphibian airplane reported that while on approach to the destination airport, he attempted to extend the landing gear. The nose landing gear and right main landing gear extended and locked; however, the left main landing gear only partially extended. The pilot could not correct the anomaly by troubleshooting and using the emergency checklist. He subsequently elected to return to his home airport and perform a gear-up landing on a grass area adjacent to the runway. During the landing, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage bulkheads and right wing. The pilot and a mechanic recovered the airplane to a hangar. Several days later, under the supervision of a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, they were able to cycle the landing gear five times with no anomalies noted. The mechanic added that perhaps ice interfered with the left main landing gear, but he could not be sure. .
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8BZ
- Reported as
- Consolidated Aeronautics Lake LA-4-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 761
- Built
- 1976
- Airframe hours
- 2,936
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-390, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 16, 2024 · 73 hours before
- Destination
- EEN · Keene, NH
- Airport
- ORE · Orange Municipal Airport
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Auto-pilot, ADS-B
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
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,394 total · 251 in this make and model · 1,214 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 25 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.91 inHg
- Observed at
- ORE
- METAR
- KORE 121352Z AUTO 31005KT 10SM FEW031 M04/M08 A2991
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 22, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 840 KB 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.