- Date
- August 4, 1989, 12:40 local (19:40 UTC)
- Place
- Lancaster, CA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4376PPiper PA-23-180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890804027359A
- Case key
- 26467
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 follow established procedures in restarting the engine that drives the hydrualic pump and his failure to follow published emergency landing gear extension procedures. The pilot's decision to shut down an engine and feather the propeller before assuring himself that the propeller would unfeather and his inadequate training in emergency procedures were factors in the accident.
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
After completion of an annual inspection, the aircraft owner elected to conduct a maintenance test flight. While airborne, he shut down the right engine, then feathered and unfeathered the propeller, and restarted the engine by letting the propeller windmill. When he followed the same procedure with the left engine and propeller, the propeller failed to unfeather and he could not restart the engine. The pilot returned to the airport with one engine operating and attempted to extend the landing gear during pattern entry. The landing gear did not extend and the pilot initiated a go-around. The aircraft did not climb and began to loose altitude. Eventually, it collided with the ground off airport during an unarrested descent. The landing gear extension and retraction system was hydraulic and powered by a pump on the left engine. The flight manual provided two alternate means of emergency gear extension, neither of which the pilot attempted on the first landing approach.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4376P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-23-180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23-1881
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Simanski, Donald E.
- Departed
- WJF
- Airport
- GWF · Gen. William J. Fox, runway 24, 5,001 × 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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,159 total · 155 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 18 knots
- Visibility
- 59 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- WJF, 1 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.