Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Lake Havasu City Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lake Havasu, Arizona 86404
Thursday, June 2, 2011 13:00 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that he was descending into the traffic pattern after canceling his instrument flight rules clearance and that he lowered the landing gear; however, there was no response. At that point, he reset the landing gear circuit breaker and tried again to no avail. He then used the emergency checklist and attempted to drop the gear. Again there was no response. He continued to repeat all procedures for about the next 1 1/2 hours until the airplane was at minimum fuel and he was forced to land with the landing gear retracted. Prior to landing, he secured all items in the cabin, feathered the propeller, and shut down the engine and all electrical and fuel controls. The airplane touched down mid-field and slid about 1,200 feet.
During the postaccident examination, the airplane was placed on jacks and supplied electrical power. Both the normal and emergency extension landing gear systems did not work. The examination revealed that a faulty low hydraulic pressure switch prevented the normal gear extension system from operating properly. The examination also revealed that the emergency gear release valve’s control arm was misrigged and would only move 1/4 inch instead of the approximately 2 inches of movement that was required. The misrigged control arm would not allow the system to port hydraulic fluid from the gear-down line to the gear-up line, which is required for the fluid to return to the reservoir and to allow gravity to extend the gear.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the low pressure switch in the normal landing gear system, which prevented normal operation of that system, and the misrigging of the emergency extension gear release valve, which prevented the system from being depressurized to allow for the freefall of the gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/2/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Lake Havasu |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86404 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 343416N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1142130W |
| Event Location Airport | Lake Havasu City |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HII |
| 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 | 783 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 135 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HII |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 783 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 30728 |
| NTSB Notification Source | WP 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 15 2012 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N712MK |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA245 |
| 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-46-310P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4608032 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 8 2010 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2747 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SEA AIR HOLDINGS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | BEND |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97701-9093 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | John Walpher |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | BEND |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97701-9093 |
| 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 | PDX |
| Departure City | Portland |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HII |
| Destination City | Lake Havasu |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 15 2012 6:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 8001 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |