Carson Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Carson City, Nevada 89706
Saturday, January 10, 2009 11:00 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During the landing approach the pilot was unable to fully extend the right main landing gear. Following multiple troubleshooting attempts he retracted the left and nose landing gear and performed a partial gear-up landing. During the landing sequence the airplane sustained substantial damage to the belly structure. Postaccident examination revealed multiple fractures in the right main landing gear actuator housing and mechanical damage to the internal piston rack. Analysis of the fractures revealed that they had failed in overload. Examination of an exemplar actuator, piston, and sector gear revealed that the mechanical damage to the teeth on the sector gear occurred after the initial failure of the actuator housing and was not causal to the failure. The airplane manufacturer had released a service bulletin addressing repeated inspections for cracks at a specific location in the actuator body, a typical procedure for monitoring of fatigue cracks. Although it appeared that the operator had not complied with the service bulletin, the primary cracks were in a different location and displayed features consistent with an overload event. Although the airplane had been used for flight training, and the overload failure of the actuator was likely caused by a prior hard landing, the investigation was unable to determine the initiating event.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The overload failure of the landing gear actuator at an undetermined time.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 1/10/2009
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 1100
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City Carson City
Event State NEVADA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 89706
Event Date Year 2009
Event Date Month 1
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 391132n
Event Location Longitude 1194404w
Event Location Airport Carson Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID CXP
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 4705
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1055 Pacific Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 355
Weather Observation Facility ID RNO
Elevation of weather observation facility 4415
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 19
Time Zone of the weather observation PST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 20000
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) 1
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -8
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator --
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.72
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) 27199
NTSB Notification Source FAA ROC
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Jul 22 2010 5:13PM
User who most recently changed record coos
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N6272R
NTSB Number WPR09LA083
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 CESSNA
Aircraft Model 172RG
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 172RG0134
Certified Max Gross Weight 2650
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 Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Jan 8 2009 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 5031
Airframe Hours 5031
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type C91-A
Aircraft Owner Name Christiansen Aviation, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Wilmington
Aircraft Owner State DE
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 19810
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name National Pilot Academy
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Carson City
Operator State NV
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 89706
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
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) Personal
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code CXP
Departure City Carson City
Departure State NV
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1100
Departure Time Zone PST
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code CXP
Destination City Carson City
Destination State NV
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jul 22 2010 5:13PM
User who most recently changed record coos
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location 27
Runway Length 6100
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --