- Date
- July 3, 1989, 03:00 local (07:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Injuries
- 7 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N149RTCessna 421B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 18, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890703018809A
- Case key
- 32451
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
Improper flare by the pilot. The light condition (dark night) was considered to be a contributing factor.
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 stated that during an approach to land at night, she allowed the airspeed to dissipate and the sink rate to increase. Subsequently, the aircraft touched down hard and all three of the landing gear collapsed. No pre-accident part failure or malfunction of the aircraft was evident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N149RT
- Reported as
- Cessna 421B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 421-00430
- Engine
- Continental GTSIO-520-N, 375 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Ridgeley, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- ISM · Kissimmee, FL
- Destination
- FXE
- Airport
- FXE · Fort Lauderdale Executive, runway 8, 6,000 × 100 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
- 42
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,200 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FLL, 9 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.