Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Garfield County Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rifle, Colorado 81650
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 15:20 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, while en route to his home base, he experienced an electrical system malfunction. Due to the wind gust conditions at his home base, he elected to divert to a second airport. While on approach to the second airport, the airplane's electrical system became more erratic, which included the illumination of all warning lights on the digital exhaust gas temperature (EGT) gauge and the indication of "extreme" engine temperatures of over 1,650 degrees. Shortly thereafter, the electrical system failed. He immediately attempted to lower the flaps and landing gear, but the flaps only partially lowered. The pilot hand cranked the landing gear half way down, but because of the severe turbulence, asked his passenger to assist him while he flew the airplane. When the passenger finished, the pilot verified that the landing gear crank had "quit turning." The pilot stated that, due to the "extreme danger" of a possible engine fire, he elected not to attempt a fly-by to verify that the landing gear was extended. When he attempted to land on runway 26, he felt both propellers strike the runway. When he "cut" the power to both engines, the airplane settled onto the runway, and slid approximately 1,000 feet before coming to a stop on the grass just off the right side of the runway. The pilot realized that the passenger had inadvertently raised the landing gear, resulting in an unintentional gear-retracted landing. Later, it was determined that several fractured propeller pieces had impacted the fuselage resulting in substantial damage to several fuselage bulkheads. An examination of the airplane's electrical system, which included a 2-hour ferry flight, showed no anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to verify the manual extension of the landing gear resulting in an inadvertent wheels up landing. Contributing factors include the electrical systems failure for undetermined reasons, the pilot's diverted attention and the pilot's improper in-flight planning and decision making.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/28/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1520 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rifle |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81650 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Garfield County Regional |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | RIL |
| 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 | 5544 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRIL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5544 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 23 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.54 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8148 |
| 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) | 16498 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 28 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1606 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 10:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N282JL |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA075 |
| 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 | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | 95-C55 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | TE-3555 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4900 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 3948.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sopris Aviation LLC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 898 Hwy, 133 Suite 101 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Carbondale |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81623 |
| 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 | TEX |
| Departure City | Telluride |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GWS |
| Destination City | Glenwood Spring |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 8 2004 11:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 7000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |