Centennial Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Englewood, Colorado 80112
Monday, October 14, 2002 15:20 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilot said that when he put the landing gear down, everything "sounded and felt normal," but he had an unsafe gear indication. He made a pass over the airport, and tower personnel indicated that all three landing gear appeared to be down and locked. The pilot requested that a Mooney mechanic also confirm the position of the gear. After working with a mechanic to manually lock the gear into place, the mechanic stated that the gear did appear to be down and locked, and that most often the problem was with the indicator rather than the gear itself. Although the unsafe light was still illuminated, the pilot decided to land. During the landing roll, the gear collapsed and the airplane exited the south side of runway 28 into the dirt. According to the pilot's accident report, the reason for the collapse of the landing gear had not been determined.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the complete collapse of the landing gear, during landing roll, for undetermined reasons.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/14/2002
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 1520
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City Englewood
Event State COLORADO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 80112
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 393412N
Event Location Longitude 1045058W
Event Location Airport CENTENNIAL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID APA
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 5883
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1453 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID APA
Elevation of weather observation facility 5883
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 17000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
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) 15
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -11
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 60
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 7
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.17
Density Altitude (feet) 7035
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) 13958
NTSB Notification Source FAA Comm Center
NTSB Notification Date Oct 14 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1545
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Sep 30 2003 9:55AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Denver, CO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N8084D
NTSB Number DEN03LA007
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 Mooney
Aircraft Model M20J
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 24-0894
Certified Max Gross Weight 2740
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 Jan 9 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 168
Airframe Hours 3969
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Tech-Sites Corp.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 8484 South Valley Highway
Aircraft Owner City Englewood
Aircraft Owner State CO
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 80112
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Steven M. Potter
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 11485 Anderson Avenue
Operator City Franktown
Operator State CO
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 80116
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 MTJ
Departure City Montrose
Departure State CO
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1330
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code APA
Destination City Englewood
Destination State CO
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - roll
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jul 14 2003 12:43PM
User who most recently changed record MCBM
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 28
Runway Length 4904
Runway Width 62
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --