- Date
- April 8, 2001, 17:30 local (Apr 9, 2001, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Chino, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6240PPiper PA-24-250
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 28, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20010408006259A
- Case key
- 52105
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. A factor was the pilot's failure to use the landing checklist.
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 airplane landed with the landing gear retracted. The pilot said he initiated a go-around on his first attempted landing because the runway wasn't clear. He forgot that he raised his landing gear. He was wearing a new noise attenuating headset that changed the sounds he normally heard when flying his airplane. He did not recognize the gear warning horn during the accident landing. He recalled that the gear warning horn was still sounding as he removed his headset.
Factual narrative
On April 8, 2001, about 1730 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-24-250, N6240P, sustained substantial damage when it made a wheels up landing on runway 26 at Chino, California. The commercial pilot/owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The personal flight departed Corona, California, about 1720. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. This occurrence was upgraded to an accident on April 19, 2001, after an inspection revealed damage to structural airframe components.
The Federal Aviation Administration accident coordinator interviewed the pilot. The pilot said he initiated a go-around on his first attempted landing because the runway wasn't clear. He forgot that he raised his landing gear. He was wearing a new noise attenuating headset that changed the sounds he normally heard when flying his airplane. He did not recognize the gear warning horn during the accident landing. He recalled that the gear warning horn was still sounding as he removed his headset.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6240P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1345
- Airframe hours
- 3,842
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-A1-C5, 250 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jerome A. Aken
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 1, 2000 · 99 hours before
- Departed
- AJO · Corona, CA
- Destination
- CNO · Chino, CA
- Airport
- CNO · Chino, runway 26R, 4,856 × 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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- August 22, 1999
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total · 2,400 in this make and model · 4,000 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- CNO
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 N6240P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.