Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Billings Logan Intern Arpt Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Billings, Montana 59105
Saturday, May 19, 2007 4:00 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that about 40 nautical miles into the flight, he heard a "clunk" and the red unsafe light in the gear handle came on. He verified that all systems were functioning normally, and he cycled the landing gear up and down to see if that would solve the problem. The unsafe light remained illuminated. The pilot returned to the departure airport and circled for several hours to burn his fuel load down. He said that at one point he flew low over the runway so the company mechanic, with the aid of a light from an airport vehicle, could visually check the nose gear position. It was hanging out of the wheel well at approximately a 45-degree angle. Upon landing, the airplane settled to its nose during landing rollout. Examination of the airplane revealed that the nose gear actuator mount bracket area was bent and wrinkled. The nose gear actuator shaft had fractured just above the clevis bolt, which attaches to the drag brace. The failed actuator had been installed on July 26, 2006. The Beech B-99 maintenance manual states that the hydraulic actuator needs to be overhauled or replaced every 10,000 hours; maintenance records indicate that this one had 231.4 hours on it at the time of the accident. Metallurgist examined the failed actuator and concluded that all of the fractures were overstress, and no preexisting fatigue signatures were evident. The airframe had accumulated 34,613.2 hours of flying time, at the time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The total failure of the nose landing gear actuator and the subsequent nose gear collapse during landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/19/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 400 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Billings |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 59105 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 454828N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1083234W |
| Event Location Airport | Billings Logan Intern Arpt |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BIL |
| 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 | 3652 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 353 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BIL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3652 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| 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) | 23063 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NW FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 19 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2008 3:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Helena, MT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N950AA |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA133 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | B-99 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | U-159 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10900 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 130 |
| Airframe Hours | 34613 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Alpine Aviation Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1177 Alpine Air Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Provo |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84601 |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | BIL |
| Departure City | Billings |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 100 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GPI |
| Destination City | Kalispell |
| Destination State | MT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 6 2008 9:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10L |
| Runway Length | 10518 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |