Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mahlon Sweet Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Sunday, February 11, 2001 17:20 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After taxiing and taking off in "very icy conditions," the pilot was unable to get the nose gear to fully retract even after multiple recycle attempts. Because of the severe weather at his point of departure, the pilot elected to continue to his planned destination. At the destination ILS final approach fix, the pilot moved the gear handle to the DOWN position, but the nose gear did not fully extend. He therefore recycled the gear a number of times, with and without full rudder pedal application, but the nose gear would not fully extend and lock. During the landing, the initial touchdown was successful, but as the nose gear was lowered to the runway, it collapsed back into the wheel well. During a post-accident inspection, after prying the nose wheel loose from the well with a bar, it rotated to the full down and locked position. After the bushing collar bolts at the base of the gear strut oleo body were loosened, the nose gear was able to be centered. The post-accident inspection did not reveal any anomalies in the extension and retraction assembly, and it could not be positively determined why the gear did not fully retract or extend.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an undetermined malfunction of the nose gear system which resulted in the failure of the nose gear to fully extend and lock prior to landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/11/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1720 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Eugene |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97401 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Mahlon Sweet Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EUG |
| 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 | 369 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.79 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Moderate |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10338 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2001 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Portland FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N690AC |
| NTSB Number | SEA01LA049 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aero Commander |
| Aircraft Model | AC-690 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 11527 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10350 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 5 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 95 |
| Airframe Hours | 6450 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Patrick M Gisler |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1470 NE 1st Street., Suite 100 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bend |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97701 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | RDM |
| Departure City | Redmond |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1655 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | EUG |
| Destination City | Eugene |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 1 2001 6:00PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 8000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |