Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Grant County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Silver City, New Mexico 88043
Friday, January 3, 2014 15:15 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he lowered the landing gear and observed gear-down indications before touchdown; however, the landing gear collapsed during the landing. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that all three landing gear had collapsed; no anomalies in the extension/retraction linkage were found.
The airplane owner reported that, during recovery of the airplane, he had adjusted the nose landing gear actuating rod for the nose gear to fully seat on the stop flats. Additionally, the landing gear had been serviced during the most recent annual inspection, which was about 24 flight hours before the accident. Although it is possible that the landing gear was not properly adjusted after the maintenance work, several flights had been conducted in the interim without any reported issues related to the landing gear system.
Postaccident examinations revealed that the nose landing gear down lock switch was improperly mounted upside down and that the limit switch was stuck in the closed position. The inoperative nose landing gear switch would have provided a gear down/locked indication to the pilot regardless of the nose landing gear condition. It is possible that the nose landing gear did not fully extend and lock down before landing due to either the inoperative limit switch or a slight misrigging of the system. However, because the landing gear was operated by the transmission jackscrew, it is unlikely that an issue with the nose landing gear would have caused a collapse of the main landing gear if the main landing gear was fully extended and locked in the down position. The reason for the landing gear collapse could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The collapse of the landing gear during landing for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examinations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/3/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Silver City |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 88043 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 323812N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1080923E |
| Event Location Airport | Grant County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SVC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 360 |
| Airport Elevation | 5446 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1535 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SVC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5446 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 15 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32950 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA -- ASW ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 15 2014 12:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6767P |
| NTSB Number | CEN14LA107 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA 24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-1897 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2899 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 4 |
| 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 | Apr 30 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 24 |
| Airframe Hours | 4500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gregory K Hudson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Deming |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 88031 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Gregory K Hudson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Deming |
| Operator State | NM |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 88031 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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 | DMN |
| Departure City | Deming |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | DMN |
| Destination City | Deming |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 15 2014 12:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 6802 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |