- Date
- October 6, 1989, 17:52 local (22:52 UTC)
- Place
- Pensacola, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N52DBMooney M20F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891006066179I
- Case key
- 32571
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
Improper rigging of the landing gear which resulted in an overload failure.
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
Two days before the incident, the landing gear actuator & components of the landing gear were replaced & the gear rigging was checked. The acft was flown on several legs. After gear extension, the owner heard a popping noise, though the gear extended normally. Maint facility president advised it was normal. The flt departed & en route was uneventful, but after extending the landing gear, the same noise was heard. After touchdown during the landing roll, the landing gear collapsed. Acft was ferried to a facility for repairs. Exam of the landing gear revealed that the landing gear actuator support bracket failed in tension overload.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52DB
- Reported as
- Mooney M20F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-1399
- Airframe hours
- 2,033
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Eckles, Alfred H.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 25, 1989 · 29 hours before
- Departed
- VNC · Venice, FL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PNS · Pensacola Regional, runway 16, 7,002 × 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
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 150 in this make and model · 2,400 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PNS
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 N52DB · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.