Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Las Cruces Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Las Cruces, New Mexico 88004
Monday, January 23, 1989 17:05 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE INSTRUCTOR PLT (CFI) HAD SIMULATED A LOSS OF PWR IN THE RGT ENG & THE STUDENT WAS MAKING AN APCH. THE CFI THEN PULLED THE CIRCUIT BREAKER (CB) FOR THE NORMAL GEAR EXTENTION SYS. THE STUDENT TRIED TO EXTEND THE GEAR WITH THE ALTN SYS, BUT THE LEFT GEAR DID NOT LOCK DOWN. THE CFI PUT THE CB BACK IN & RECYCLED THE GEAR, BUT THE LEFT GEAR STILL DID NOT SHOW DOWN & LOCKED. THE CFI THEN ORDERED A GO-AROUND. THE GO-AROUND WAS INITIATED AT ABOUT 300 FT AGL. WHEN THE THROTTLES WERE ADVANCED, THE CFI NOTED A LACK OF PWR IN THE RGT ENG & TOOK CONTROL OF THE ACFT. HE TRIED TO RESTORE FULL PWR TO THE RGT ENG, WHICH HE PERCEIVED WAS PRODUCING SOME PWR. THE PROP WASN'T FEATHERED. IN THAT CONFIGURATION, THE ACFT MAINTAINED LEVEL FLT, BUT WOULD NOT CLIMB. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT BEGAN TO DESCEND & THE CFI MADE A FORCED LANDING ON ROUGH DESERT TERRAIN. NO REASON FOR THE RPRTD LOSS OF ENG POWER WAS FOUND DRG A SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE LOSS OF RIGHT ENGINE POWER FOR UNDETERMINED REASON(S), AND THE FAILURE OF THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT TO FEATHER THE RIGHT ENGINE. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: FAILURE OF THE LEFT MAIN GEAR LOCKING MECHANISM TO ENGAGE AND THE UNPREPARED (ROUGH/UNEVEN) TERRAIN.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/23/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1705 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | LAS CRUCES |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 88004 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LAS CRUCES INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LRU |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 4454 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| 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) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5000 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 158 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 23 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 38477 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3070M |
| NTSB Number | DEN89LA068 |
| 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-34-200T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-34-200T |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-7870105 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4570 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 8 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | 2516 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | N. AMER. INST. OF AVIATION |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | LAS CRUCES INT'L AIRPORT |
| Aircraft Owner City | LAS CRUCES |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 880040668 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ELP |
| Departure City | EL PASO |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| 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 | 26 |
| Runway Length | 6073 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |