Tri-County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Erie, Colorado 80516
Monday, July 24, 2000 13:00 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

At the completion of a cross-country flight, the flight was on final approach when the pilot was distracted by a truck, which was parked on one of the exit taxiways from the runway. Subsequently, the pilot failed to lower the landing gear and made a landing gear retracted landing.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

Failure by the pilot to follow procedures and lower the landing gear.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 7/24/2000
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 1300
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City ERIE
Event State COLORADO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 80516
Event Date Year 2000
Event Date Month 7
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport TRI-COUNTY
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 48V
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 5130
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1245 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 190
Weather Observation Facility ID BJC
Elevation of weather observation facility 5671
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 15
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 12000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 8000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 80
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 34
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 9
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 280
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 15
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) 24
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) 8500
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 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 301
NTSB Notification Source AIRPORT MANAGER
NTSB Notification Date Jul 24 2000 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1422
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Mar 4 2001 7:07AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N5549Q
NTSB Number DEN00LA153
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 Mooney
Aircraft Model M20C
Aircraft Series Identifier M20C
Aircraft Serial Number 2963
Certified Max Gross Weight 2900
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 4
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Sep 8 1999 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 110
Airframe Hours 1540
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name CURTIS W. SIMONSEN
Aircraft Owner Street Address 950 6TH STREET
Aircraft Owner City CHAPPELL
Aircraft Owner State NE
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 69129
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
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) Personal
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code 2V2
Departure City LONGMONT
Departure State CO
Departure Country
Departure Time 1230
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code 48V
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Mar 4 2001 7:07AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 33
Runway Length 4700
Runway Width 60
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --