Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Orlando Sanford International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sanford, Florida 32773
Friday, April 1, 2011 15:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and private pilot were performing touch-and-go landings. While retracting the landing gear, they heard a loud bang. The gear-up light illuminated, indicating that all three landing gears were retracted and the doors were closed. The instructor concluded that the noise came from the landing gear doors closing into each other. The flight continued, and two more landings were planned: one touch-and-go and one full stop. The landing gear appeared to operate normally during the touch-and-go. Upon extending the gear for the full stop landing, the gear-down light failed to illuminate. After checking the gear down indicating system, a visual check with the tower controllers confirmed that all three landing gears were in the down position. During touchdown, the nose gear collapsed. A postaccident examination of the nose gear assembly revealed that the nose landing gear strut reservoir lacked air pressure and the fluid level was very low. This underserviced condition caused binding in the nose gear fork assembly and failure of a nose gear push rod, which prevented the nose gear from extending to the full down and locked position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the nose landing gear due to inadequate servicing of the nose gear strut reservoir.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/1/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sanford |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32773 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 284622N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0181404W |
| Event Location Airport | Orlando Sanford International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SFB |
| 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 | 55 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SFB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 55 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 19 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.84 |
| 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) | 30033 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 2 2012 4:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6781X |
| NTSB Number | ERA11LA221 |
| 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 | 310F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 310-0081 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 3 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 11 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 3245 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Edward Moon |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WINTER SPRINGS |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32708-5190 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Edward Moon |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WINTER SPRINGS |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 32708-5190 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SFB |
| Departure City | Sanford |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SFB |
| Destination City | Sanford |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 26 2012 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 9601 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |