Salt Lake City Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
Monday, November 12, 2007 8:50 MST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilot was initially inbound for a straight-in landing, but was switched by the tower to a different runway. The pilot, who performed his pre-landing configuration actions from memory, failed to put the landing gear down, and landed with the landing gear still retracted. The pilot indicated that although he thought he had seen the illumination of the green landing gear position indicator lights while on short final, he had instead seen the reflection of the rays from the rising sun.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to lower the landing gear prior to landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to use a written checklist.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 11/12/2007
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 850
Event Time Zone Mountain Standard Time
Event City Salt Lake City
Event State UTAH
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 84116
Event Date Year 2007
Event Date Month 11
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 404718N
Event Location Longitude 1115839W
Event Location Airport Salt Lake City
Event Location Nearest Airport ID KSLC
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 4227
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 853 Mountain Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 340
Weather Observation Facility ID SLC
Elevation of weather observation facility 4227
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation MST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 4500
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) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 3
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 1
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.35
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) 24423
NTSB Notification Source FAA Comm Center
NTSB Notification Date Nov 12 2007 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Oct 16 2008 2:43PM
User who most recently changed record ricj
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Salt Lake City FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N84859
NTSB Number SEA08LA025
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 PIPER
Aircraft Model PA-31-350
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 31-7305043
Certified Max Gross Weight 7368
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 Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection Aug 1 2007 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 14396
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Spirit Air
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Salmon
Aircraft Owner State ID
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 83467
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Salmon Air Taxi
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 29 Hamner Drive
Operator City Salmon
Operator State ID
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 83467
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate Yes - certificate holder
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
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) Positioning
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code PUC
Departure City Price
Departure State UT
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 815
Departure Time Zone MST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code KSLC
Destination City Salt Lake City
Destination State UT
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Oct 16 2008 2:44PM
User who most recently changed record ricj
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 35
Runway Length 9596
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --