Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Middleton Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Middleton, Wisconsin 53562
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 15:50 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that multiple approaches and landings had been conducted during the dual proficiency flight. Prior to the accident landing, he observed three green lights indicating that the landing gear was properly extended. The landing touchdown was "light." A "few seconds" after touchdown the aircraft began to "shudder" and the gear horn started to sound. The airplane began to drift right and the right wing began to settle. As the right main gear collapsed, the aircraft departed the runway pavement, striking two runway lights in the process. The aircraft came to rest in a grass area adjacent to the runway. The nose and left main landing gear remained extended during the accident. A post accident examination of the aircraft revealed that the forward bellcrank attachment flange on the landing gear strut failed. In addition, the lower flange on the bellcrank had also failed. According to the airplane manufacturer, the location of the failures was consistent with the cumulative effect of improper adjustment of the downlock mechanism over time. However, any improper adjustment procedure could not be attributed to any specific maintenance action or to a particular mechanic. Additionally, the maintenance log entry related to the adjustments made during the most recent annual inspection indicated that the airplane maintenance manual instructions regarding landing gear adjustments were complied with properly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the right main landing gear extension and retraction linkage, which allowed the gear assembly to collapse during landing rollout. An additional cause was the improper adjustment procedure(s) by undetermined mechanic(s). The runway lights struck during the accident sequence were contributing factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/30/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Middleton |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 53562 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 430651N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0893153W |
| Event Location Airport | Middleton Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | C29 |
| 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 | 927 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 76 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MSN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 859 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| 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) | 23445 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 30 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2008 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Milwaukee FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N17MH |
| NTSB Number | CHI07LA159 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 340A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 340A-0797 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6430 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4575 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Echo Aviation LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Verona |
| Aircraft Owner State | WI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 53593 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MSN |
| Departure City | Madison |
| Departure State | WI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1540 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | C29 |
| Destination City | Middleton |
| Destination State | WI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 12 2008 12:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |