Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Deland Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Deland, Florida 32724
Friday, July 23, 2004 16:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that the flight proceeded to the destination airport area where he lowered the retractable nose landing gear during the base leg to land on runway 05. The flight turned final, touched down first on the main landing gears, then when he lowered the nose landing gear to the runway, it appeared to hold for an instant then collapsed. The airplane slid a distance then came to rest upright; he secured the airplane then both he and the passenger evacuated it. The nose was raised from the runway, the nose landing gear manual gear extension/retraction handle was lowered and locked into position, which locked the nose landing gear into the down and locked position. There is no nose landing gear down and locked light indication in the cockpit; he could see the nose landing gear was extended. He further reported there was no failure of the nose landing gear retraction/extension components, and the nose gear collapse was not a rigging issue but rather his failure to push forward on the retraction/extension handle with enough force.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the pilot to fully extend the nose landing gear resulting in collapse of it during the landing roll. A contributing factor in the accident was the lack of a nose landing gear down and locked indicator.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/23/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1645 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | DeLand |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32724 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 290401N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0811702W |
| Event Location Airport | DeLand Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KDED |
| 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 | 79 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KDAB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 34 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| 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) | 16575 |
| NTSB Notification Source | DeLand Fire Department |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 23 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1708 |
| 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 | Orlando, Florida |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N369BL |
| NTSB Number | MIA04LA111 |
| 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 | Robert J. Labonte |
| Aircraft Model | Defiant |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-0369 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 20 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert J. Labonte |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10 Thorning Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hudson |
| Aircraft Owner State | NH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 03051 |
| 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 | X50 |
| Departure City | New Smyrna Bch |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1550 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KDED |
| Destination City | DeLand |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 27 2004 10:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 05 |
| Runway Length | 3984 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |