- Date
- October 17, 1994, 17:42 local (Oct 18, 1994, 00:42 UTC)
- Place
- Grand Canyon, AZ
- Injuries
- 9 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N402SWCessna 402
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 13, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19941017035099I
- Case key
- 28949
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
the fracture and failure of the left main landing gear bellcrank which jammed the landing gear in the retracted position.
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 aircraft landed gear up and veered off the runway. A bellcrank in the left main landing gear system was found fractured, jamming the landing gear in the up position after takeoff. The last maintenance inspection of the landing gear system was a 200-hour inspection accomplished about 71.1 flight hours before the incident.
Factual narrative
On October 17, 1994, at 1742 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 402, N402SW, landed gear up and veered off runway 3 at the Grand Canyon Airport, Grand Canyon, Arizona. The airplane was being operated as a sightseeing flight under 14 CFR Part 135 when the incident occurred. The airplane sustained minor damage. The certificated commercial pilot and eight passengers were not injured. One passenger received minor injuries. The flight originated in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 1500 hours. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company visual flight rules flight plan was filed.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors, a bellcrank in the left main landing gear system fractured, jamming the landing gear in the up position. After getting a gear not safe indication, the pilot orbited the airport about 90 minutes to burn fuel before landing. During the landing roll, the airplane veered left and came to rest about 50 feet east of runway 3 at midfield.
The last maintenance inspection of the landing gear system was a 200-hour inspection accomplished on September 20, 1994, about 71.1 flight hours before the accident. At the time of the inspection, there were no discrepancies noted with the bellcrank. An examination of the landing gear by the pilot during his preflight walk-around check of the airplane is a checklist item contained in the aircraft manual.
Review of Service Difficulty Reports (SDRs) for Cessna 402A airplanes revealed two previous left main landing gear malfunctions as a result of broken bellcranks. The submitters of the two SDRs both recommended increasing the inspection criteria of the bellcrank. As a result of this incident, Federal Aviation Administration inspectors revised the operator's maintenance program by requiring the landing gear system be inspected every 50 hours of aircraft operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N402SW
- Reported as
- Cessna 402
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 402-0036
- Airframe hours
- 7,917
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520E, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- King Airlines, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 20, 1994 · 71 hours before
- Departed
- L15 · Las Vegas, NV
- Destination
- GCN
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- GCN · Grand Canyon Nat'L Park, runway 3, 8,999 × 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
- 23
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,460 total · 640 in this make and model · 253 in the last 90 days · 65 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GCN
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.