Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
El Monte Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Monte, California 91731
Saturday, January 25, 2003 12:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane experienced a collapse of the right main landing gear during a precautionary landing. The pilot had just picked up the airplane from a facility after a new avionics suite had been installed. This was the first flight after completion of the work. As the flight neared the airport of intended landing, the pilot requested and received a clearance into the traffic pattern. He had just put the landing gear switch in the down position and was reaching for the flaps when the airplane lost all electrical power. The pilot reported that the power loss was sudden, and there had been no prior indications of a decreasing electrical power reserve such as dimming lights and fading or unreadable radios. The pilot circled and attempted to rectify the problem without success. He then decided to return to the airplane's home airport. As he entered the traffic pattern, the pilot and passenger visually examined the position of both the right and left main gear, which appeared to be in the down and locked position. The pilot then extended the hand pump, pumped it a few times, and felt strong resistance from the system. About 2 seconds after touchdown, the airplane shuddered, and then veered off the right side of the runway. After exiting the airplane, the pilot noticed that the right main landing gear had folded under the fuselage. A recovery crew lifted the airplane by a sling, and manually extended the right main gear into the down and locked position, where it remained during towing operations back to the pilot's hangar. The emergency section of the POH under the emergency gear extension section says to pump the hand pump until "strong resistance is felt." Without electrical power, the landing gear warning lights and horn do not work and the pilot would have to rely on a visual inspection of the main landing gear to determine if they were in the down position. Post accident inspection of the electrical system revealed that the alternator switch contact was not functioning properly. This resulted in a lack of field current and eventual complete discharge of the battery.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the alternator switch contact failure, which resulted in a complete electrical failure.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/25/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1210 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | El Monte |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91731 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 330516N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180209W |
| Event Location Airport | El Monte |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EMT |
| 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 | 296 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1220 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EMT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 296 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 16000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 16907 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 25 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1230 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-Los Angeles, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N732DK |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA075 |
| 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 | T210L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21061432 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 137 |
| Airframe Hours | 3522.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Henry Rosenthal |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Duarte |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91009 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CCB |
| Departure City | Upland |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CMA |
| Destination City | Camarillo |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 30 2004 1:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 3995 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |