30 Oct 2008: CESSNA 421C — DRY FORCE INC

30 Oct 2008: CESSNA 421C (N421PC) — DRY FORCE INC

No fatalities • Mesa, AZ, United States

Probable cause

The failure of the hydraulic landing gear extension systems due to a ruptured line.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On October 29, 2008, about 1959 mountain standard time, a Cessna 421C, N421PC, experienced the collapse of its landing gear during rollout at the Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. The airplane was owned and operated by Dry Force, Inc., Mesa. The airplane was substantially damaged, and neither the commercial certificated pilot nor four passengers were injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the business flight, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The flight was performed under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, and it originated from San Diego, California, about 1737 Pacific daylight time.

The pilot reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that, at the conclusion of the flight on approach to Falcon Field, he placed the landing gear selector in the down position. Thereafter, he observed that the landing gear's green position light failed to illuminate for the left gear. The pilot attempted to lower the gear several times and finally attempted to extend the gear using the emergency "blow down" procedure. None of the procedures worked.

The pilot landed on runway 22 with a partially extended landing gear. The airplane touched down softly on the runway, but substantial structural damage occurred as the airplane swerved off the runway and slid to a stop. Belly skin was punctured, and several ribs were bent upward. The pilot reported that he smelled a strong odor of hydraulic fluid in the cabin.

An examination of the landing gear system revealed that an aluminum hydraulic line associated with the gear's operation had ruptured beneath an Adel clamp. There was a crack in the line at a 45-degree bend near this location.

The pilot also reported that the emergency gear extension system was rendered inoperative when the hydraulic leak occurred. The total time on the airframe and broken line was about 4,113 hours.

Contributing factors

  • cause Malfunction
  • cause Damaged/degraded

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 30sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.