Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Walla Walla Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Walla Walla, Washington 99362
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 14:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he stayed in the airport traffic pattern, and completed one takeoff and landing. Prior to the second landing, the landing gear was down, all indications appeared normal, and he did not hear an audible alert when he reduced power for landing. As the airplane touched down, the landing gear collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage to the wing. The pilot stated that he noticed smoke coming from the circuit breaker panel on the floor as he exited the airplane. The operator reported that they had previously been having trouble with the landing gear circuit breaker popping during gear extension and retraction. Six flight hours prior to the accident, they had replaced numerous landing gear system components including the landing gear motor circuit breaker. Ground and flight tests had been successfully completed without a recurrence, which led them to believe that the situation had been resolved. Post accident examination of the airplane revealed that the landing gear motor circuit breaker had tripped, which prevented the landing gear from fully locking in the down position. The landing gear warning circuit is powered by the landing gear motor circuit, and would not activate with the circuit breaker tripped.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A tripped landing gear motor circuit breaker, which prevented the gear from fully locking in the down position, and subsequent collapse during landing. Contributing to the accident was the disabled landing gear warning horn.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/22/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Walla Walla |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99362 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 460541N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1181720W |
| Event Location Airport | Walla Walla Regional |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ALW |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KALW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| 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) | 29.9 |
| 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) | 27449 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NWR Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2010 9:39AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7504Y |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA372 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-30 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30-566 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 9 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 8781 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Walla Walla University |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 204 S College Ave |
| Aircraft Owner City | College Place |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99324 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Walla Walla University |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 204 S College Ave |
| Operator City | College Place |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99324 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Walla Walla |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Walla Walla |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 15 2010 4:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 6527 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |