Taos Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Taos, New Mexico 87571
Monday, March 16, 2009 12:00 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The student pilot was landing at the non-towered airport after a cross country flight, when he made a "short approach", did not use any flaps, and kept an approach speed that was about 30 knots faster than normal. The student pilot said he didn't use his normal checklist procedure and that everything seemed to be going "too fast" when the airplane landed on the asphalt runway with the landing gear retracted and the skin on the belly of the fuselage was ground down to the main keel. There was no injury to the solo student pilot, but substantial damage to the fuselage structure.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The failure of the student pilot to complete the before landing checklist. Contributing to the accident was his failure to lower the landing gear before landing.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 3/16/2009
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 1200
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City Taos
Event State NEW MEXICO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 87571
Event Date Year 2009
Event Date Month 3
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 362717N
Event Location Longitude 1054012W
Event Location Airport Taos Regional Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID KSKX
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 7095
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1235 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID KSKX
Elevation of weather observation facility 7095
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
Lighting Conditions Day
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) 3
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 290
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 8
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.06
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report KSKX 181835Z AUTO 29008KT 10SM CLR 03-M12 A3006
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) 25285
NTSB Notification Source FAA ASW Comm Center
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Apr 29 2009 3:37PM
User who most recently changed record johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N342R
NTSB Number CEN09CA223
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed Unknown
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name BEECH
Aircraft Model D35
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number D-3422
Certified Max Gross Weight 2725
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats 2
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats 2
Total number of seats on the aircraft --
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Mar 11 2008 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 50
Airframe Hours 4033
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type C91-A
Aircraft Owner Name ADAMS LUCILLE
Aircraft Owner Street Address PO Box 1777
Aircraft Owner City Taos
Aircraft Owner State NM
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 87571
Operator is an individual? Yes
Operator Name JOHN L. DILLON
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address PO Box 631
Operator City Angle Fire
Operator State NM
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 87710-0631
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 No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code E14
Departure City Espanola
Departure State NM
Departure Country USA
Departure Time --
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code KSKX
Destination City Taos
Destination State NM
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Mar 25 2009 7:08PM
User who most recently changed record gamw
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location 22
Runway Length 5803
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --