Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Thermal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Thermal, California 92274
Friday, July 16, 1993 19:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was taking a multi engine class certification check ride. The pilot examiner stated that the applicant pilot had been flying a Piper PA23-160 for his multi engine training. The PA23 cockpit is set up with the landing gear selector handle on the right side of the power quadrant and the flap selector on the left. The PA23 was in the maintenance shop and the applicant was given the Piper PA39 for his flight test. The PA39 cockpit is set up with the landing gear selector handle on the left side of the power quadrant and the flap selector on the right. The examiner stated that during the traffic pattern he personally checked that the landing gear handle was in the DOWN position, with three green indicator lights. The aircraft made a normal landing. The examiner said that during the landing roll out his attention was distracted momentarily by locating the radio microphone. When he looked up again, the examiner saw the aircraft settling down on the runway with the landing gear selector handle in the UP position. According to the pilot's statement, he said that he was reaching for the flap handle to retract the landing flaps and mistakenly moved the gear handle instead.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadvertent movement of the landing gear selector switch to the up position. A factor in the accident was the difference in cockpit switch layout between the PA23 and PA39 aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/1993 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1945 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | THERMAL |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92274 |
| Event Date Year | 1993 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | THERMAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TRM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -117 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1850 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TRM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 941 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 1993 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1910 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 1:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8975Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX93LA291 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-39 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-39 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 39-141 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 5 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 39 |
| Airframe Hours | 4334 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES HOSSLER & C. WOOD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 94531 |
| Aircraft Owner City | LAS VEGAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89193 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PROFLIGHT, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PSP |
| Departure City | PALM SPRINGS |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 4993 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |