Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Portland International Jetport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Portland, Maine 04102
Friday, July 2, 2004 19:36 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Line personnel reported to the pilot that while the airplane had been parked on the ramp, heavy wind and rain "hydroplaned" the airplane across the ramp about 25 feet. After takeoff, the pilot retracted the landing gear and noticed an unfamiliar "clunking" noise during the retraction cycle. During the approach to the destination airport, he extended the landing gear and noted all three of the landing gear down and locked indicator lights were green. Sometime during the rollout he heard the "clunk" noise again, and the right wing began to settle lower than normal. The airplane then began to veer to the right and came to rest in the grass on the right side of runway. Examination of the right main landing gear revealed that two components of the down-lock mechanism had broken. The parts were submitted to the Safety Board Materials Laboratory. Metallurgical examination of the mating fractures revealed features typical of overstress separation. The fractures contained no evidence of fatigue.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the right main landing gear down-lock mechanism resulting in the collapse of the right main landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1936 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Portland |
| Event State | MAINE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 04102 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 433846N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0701831W |
| Event Location Airport | Portland International Jetport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PWM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 74 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1951 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PWM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 74 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| 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) | 29.91 |
| 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) | 16735 |
| NTSB Notification Source | PWM FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 7 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2004 11:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Portland FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N421KS |
| NTSB Number | IAD04LA029 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 421B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 421B-0507 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7680 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 20 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 8.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 4310.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert Higgins |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Burch Run |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48415 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Birch Run |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 48415 |
| 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 | GON |
| Departure City | Groton |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PWM |
| Destination City | Portland |
| Destination State | ME |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 15 2004 2:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 6800 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |