- Date
- December 3, 1994, 10:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Las Cruces, NM
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N88WTHoward DGA-15P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 18, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19941203046509A
- Case key
- 19317
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 inadequate maintenance by unknown maintenance personnel. A factor was the collapsed landing gear.
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.
Analysis
The pilot was conducting the fourth touch and go landing, under the supervision of an instructor pilot, when the right main landing gear failed. Following the collapse of the landing gear the aircraft veered right of the runway and ground looped. An examination of the landing gear revealed a pre-existing crack in a weld area. The pilot had recently purchased the aircraft.
Factual narrative
On December 3, 1994, at 1030 central standard time, a Howard DGA-15P, N88WT, was substantially damaged during landing at the Las Cruces, New Mexico, International Airport. The airplane, owned and operated by the commercial pilot, was on a local area dual instructional flight. There was no flight plan filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. Neither the pilot, the instructor, nor the two passengers were injured.
According to the owner, who had recently purchased the airplane, he was "acting as pilot-in-command." He and his flight instructor were doing touch and go landings on runway 30. He stated that during the last landing he touched down at approximately "60 miles per hour (MPH)." During the landing roll, at approximately 40 MPH, the "right main landing gear began to fail." As the gear began to collapse the airplane veered right and he and the instructor could not regain control using full left rudder and differential braking. As the airplane departed the runway, it spun 720 degrees before the right main landing gear collapsed. The flight had landed on runway 30 and the winds were reported as being 110 degrees at 4 knots.
An examination of the aircraft, by a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector, revealed that control continuity existed and the braking system operated. Inspection of the landing gear revealed evidence of pre-existing fractures in the gear structure.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N88WT
- Reported as
- Howard DGA-15P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 782
- Airframe hours
- 1,300
- Engine
- P&W R985-AN12, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Michael & Wanda Fishburn
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 10, 1994 · 23 hours before
- Airport
- LCR · Las Cruces Municipal, runway 30, 7,494 × 150 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 11,500 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 70 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ELP, 30 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.