- Date
- August 13, 1998, 14:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Blanding, UT
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6935CPiper PA-34-200T
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980813029779A
- Case key
- 43776
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 inadequate landing flare, causing components of the nose wheel landing gear to fracture.
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 told his employer that the nose landing gear would not extend, and he diverted to another airport where he landed with the nose gear retracted. Inspection disclosed damage consistent with a hard landing. Two witnesses later reported having observed the hard landing. A passenger aboard the airplane later corrborated the report. The pilot was later terminated and attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Factual narrative
On August 13, 1998, at 1415 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-34-200T, N6935C, was substantially damaged during a wheels up landing at Blanding Municipal Airport, Blanding, Utah. The airline transport rated pilot and two passengers were not injured. The flight was being operated by Scenic Aviation, Inc., as an air medical transport flight under Title 14 CFR Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, Flagstaff, Arizona, at 1230.
According to the president of Scenic Aviation, Inc., the pilot advised the company's dispatch office that while attempting to land at Chinle Airport, Chinle, Arizona, the nose landing gear would not extend, and he was diverting to Blanding, Utah, the company's base of operations. All attempts to manually extend the nose landing gear failed. As fire and medical personnel stood by, the pilot landed. The main wheels touched down and as the nose lowered, both propellers struck the ground.
Scenic Airlines maintenance personnel inspected the nose landing gear and determined that the damaged was consistent with a hard landing. The tubular structure at the base of the windscreen was broken through the skin.
Two Scenic Aviation employees later reported having witnessed the hard landing at Chinle Airport. They said the pilot aborted the landing and made a go-around. During the second attempt to land, the nose landing gear failed to extend.
The flight nurse aboard the airplane later corrborated this report. In a written statement, she said "the approach [into Chinle] seemed normal, but as [the aircraft] touched down, there was a tremendous hard hit on the ground. This occurred about three times." She further stated it felt as though the aircraft "was going to flip end over end, but [the pilot] gave it power and was able to get it back into the air." Once airborne, the pilot "circled about Chinle for about 20-30 minutes - making attempts to get the gear down." The pilot then notified her he was going to divert to Blanding.
Based on this discovery, the pilot was terminated. Attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6935C
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200T
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-7870167
- Airframe hours
- 10,189
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360-EB, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Scenic Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 7, 1998 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- FLG · Flagstaff, AZ
- Destination
- Q32 · Chinle, AZ
- Airport
- BDG · Blanding Municipal, runway 17, 6,000 × 72 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
- 39
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,151 total · 2,101 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CNY, 73 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.
Other investigations on N6935C · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.