- Date
- January 18, 2011, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Aurora, OR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3TPPiper PA-24-250
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 8, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration FSDO
- Case key
- 78400
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 lower the landing gear prior to landing.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he entered the airport's traffic pattern for landing and landed the airplane with the landing gear retracted. He said that he did not use a landing checklist, and that he was wearing a noise-canceling headset and did not hear the landing gear caution horn when he reduced the throttle for landing. The bottom of the airplane sustained structural damage requiring the replacement of several bulkheads and associated stringers, as well as a significant area of skin.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he entered the airport's traffic pattern for landing and landed the airplane with the landing gear retracted. He said that he did not use a landing checklist, and that he was wearing a noise cancelling headset and did not hear the landing gear caution horn when he reduced the throttle for landing. The bottom of the airplane sustained structural damage requiring the replacement of several bulkheads and associated stringers, as well as a significant area of skin.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3TP
- Reported as
- Piper PA-24-250
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-2042
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-C1B5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Phillip C. Spencer
- Registered owner
- Phillip C. Spencer
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 2S6 · Newberg, OR
- Destination
- UAO · Aurora, OR
- Airport
- UAO · Aurora State, runway 17, 5,004 × 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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Flight hours
- 1,800 total · 1,500 in this make and model · 9 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 43 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 18, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 514 KB in all.