Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
California City Municipal Arpt Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
California City, California 93505
Saturday, April 9, 2005 11:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The gear collapsed on landing. En route, the pilot encountered turbulence, and climbed to 10,500 feet. As he crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains, he observed an overcast layer over the San Joaquin Valley. He did not have an instrument rating and decided to divert back across the mountains to the airport where the accident occurred. During the descent, he encountered very heavy turbulence. On downwind, he selected the landing gear down, but it failed to extend, giving neither an up-or-down indication on the position lights. He observed the landing gear circuit breaker had popped out, and attempted to reset it, but it would immediately pop back out. He then activated the emergency gear extension system. In his report of the accident he stated, "I pulled on the handle and felt it was locked." On approach, the pilot experienced strong crosswinds and turbulence, and just after touchdown, the landing the gear collapsed. The airplane skidded approximately 200 feet along the runway. The reason for the failure of the landing gear system to extend normally was not determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the normal landing gear system to extend for undetermined reasons that resulted in a gear collapse during landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/9/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1100 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | California City |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93505 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350908N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180100W |
| Event Location Airport | California City Municipal Arpt |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L71 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2454 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1155 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 156 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EDW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2302 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 45 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21800 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 13 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-VNY-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7737P |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA206 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-2951 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | May 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 2500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Westel Creager |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Alamagordo |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88311 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Springerville |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93265 |
| 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 | HII |
| Departure City | Lake Havasu |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PTV |
| Destination City | Porterville |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 11 2007 5:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 24 |
| Runway Length | 6027 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |