- Date
- August 4, 1996, 10:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Brownwood, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N142PBeech E-55
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 18, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960804025859A
- Case key
- 19937
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. Factors were the pilot's failure to use a checklist, his diverted attention, and the landing gear warning horn not sounding.
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 reported that he was concentrating on practicing a 'close/precise pattern.' The pilot did not look at the landing gear and flap levers, and he inadvertently added an extra notch of flaps instead of extending the landing gear during the base leg of the traffic pattern. The pilot also reported that the landing gear warning horn did not sound. Both propellers, the belly of the airplane, and structural formers were bent in the wheels up landing.
Factual narrative
On August 4, 1996, at 1030 central daylight time, a Beech E-55, N142P, owned and operated by a private owner, was substantially damaged during a wheels up landing near Brownwood, Texas. The private pilot, sole occupant of the airplane, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. A flight plan was not filed for the cross country flight that originated near Del Rio, Texas, at 0900.
The pilot reported that he was flying in the traffic pattern at Brownwood Airport concentrating on practicing a "close/precise pattern." The pilot did not look at the landing gear and flap levers, and he inadvertently added an extra notch of flaps instead of extending the landing gear during the base leg of the traffic pattern. The pilot also reported that the landing gear warning horn did not sound. Both propellers, the belly of the airplane, and structural formers were bent.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N142P
- Reported as
- Beech E-55
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TE-1178
- Airframe hours
- 3,856
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-CB8, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Braswell S. Locker, Jr
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 8, 1995 · 150 hours before
- Departed
- DRT · Del Rio, TX
- Destination
- BWD
- Airport
- BWD · Brownwood, runway 17, 5,598 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,028 total · 180 in this make and model · 3,028 as pilot in command · 39 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 17 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.