Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lacon, Illinois 61540
Saturday, August 10, 2002 13:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained substantial damage during a precautionary landing. The pilot reported that while descending from cruise altitude he "noticed that the autopilot descend button had gotten progressively warmer. " The pilot stated he "turned off the autopilot and noticed that the panel around the autopilot was also very hot." The pilot reported he, "turned off the master switch thinking I may have the beginning of an electrical fire and started thinking of landing at the nearest airport. Within about a minute I smelled something hot or burning and I immediately picked out a field in which to land. I did not notice any smoke." The pilot reported he made the decision to perform the precautionary landing between 2,500 - 3,000 feet msl. The pilot performed the precautionary landing with the landing gear in the fully retracted position. The airplane was located in a cornfield that was approximately 4 nautical miles northeast of the nearest airport, which had two hard surfaced runways. There was no evidence of fire and/or smoke damage to the accident airplane. No discrepancies were identified with the autopilot unit and/or system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper in-flight decision to perform an intentional gear-up precautionary landing instead of continuing to the next available airport. A factor to the accident was the corn crop.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/10/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lacon |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 61540 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 410109N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0892311W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1325 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | C75 |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 568 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2603 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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) | 14167 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-AGL-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 10 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1651 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA, Springfield FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3UF |
| NTSB Number | CHI02LA251 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 210L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21061410 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 2 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1.2 |
| Airframe Hours | 1646 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Alpheus W. Altorfer |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2912 Vassar Court |
| Aircraft Owner City | Peoria |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 61614 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ARR |
| Departure City | Sugar Grove |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3MY |
| Destination City | Peoria |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2003 11:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |