Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pitkin County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Aspen, Colorado 81612
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 8:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that on departure, he could not get the landing gear to retract. The pilot elected to terminate the flight and returned to the airport to land. The pilot said that during the landing, he attempted to set the airplane down "softly." On touchdown, the airplane's right main landing gear collapsed causing substantial damage to the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The airplane spun around 180 degrees before coming to a stop on the runway. An examination of the landing gear system showed that there was a loose wire in the landing gear handle, which sent a false indication to the right main gear actuator switch, causing the system to unlock the gear but not initiate landing gear retraction. No other anomalies were found. The pilot reported that prior to the accident flight, he had maintenance performed on the landing gear indicator light.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the landing gear actuator switch. Factors relating to the accident were the false landing gear indication, the precautionary landing, and the improper maintenance adjustment performed on the landing gear switch prior to the accident flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Aspen |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81612 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391338N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1065213W |
| Event Location Airport | Pitkin County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ASE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 330 |
| Airport Elevation | 7815 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 753 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 150 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ASE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7815 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| 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) | 30.27 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9210 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14246 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 2 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 914 |
| 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 | Denver Flight Standards District Office |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N761XE |
| NTSB Number | DEN03LA116 |
| 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 | T210M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21062594 |
| 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 | May 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 120 |
| Airframe Hours | 5561 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bruce S. Gordon |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 3736 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Aspen |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81612 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | ASE |
| Departure City | Aspen |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 17 2003 11:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 15 |
| Runway Length | 7004 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |