23 Apr 2015: BEECH D95 A — B G E ENTERPRISES LLC

23 Apr 2015: BEECH D95 A (N8950U) — B G E ENTERPRISES LLC

No fatalities • Jacksonville, FL, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to properly configure the airplane for landing. Contributing to the accident were pilot fatigue, distraction, and complacency and the failure of the landing gear warning horn to sound for reasons that could not be determined based on the available information.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On April 23, 2015, at 1616 eastern daylight time, a Beech D95A, N8950U, was substantially damaged while landing with the landing gear retracted at Jacksonville Executive Airport at Craig Field (CRG), Jacksonville, Florida. The private pilot/owner was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight that departed Boone County Airport (HRO), Harrison, Arkansas. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

In a telephone conversation, the pilot said that air traffic control vectored the airplane for the final approach to Runway 14. He said he performed the before-landing or "GUMP" check by rote and inadvertently positioned the flap handle when he believed it was the landing gear handle.

The pilot heard an electric motor actuate, and the airplane's speed and handling responded in familiar fashion, so he continued the landing approach to touchdown. He explained that he did not confirm three, illuminated, green, landing-gear lights on the instrument panel prior to landing. He subsequently reported to the air traffic controller, first responders, and to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector that he had inadvertently lowered the flap handle instead of the gear handle, but that the gear warning horn did not sound.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land, airplane multiengine land, and instrument airplane. His most recent FAA second class medical certificate was issued October 10, 2014. The pilot reported 864 total hours of flight experience, of which 199 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.

The airplane was manufactured in 1965, and according to the pilot/owner, its most recent annual inspection was completed in February 2015, about 4,301 total aircraft hours.

The airplane was recovered to a maintenance facility on CRG where it was placed on jacks. The landing gear was extended and retracted with no anomalies noted. The airplane was then configured for landing, and the throttles reduced to the idle-power position. Once configured, the gear warning horn did not sound as prescribed. Troubleshooting of the gear warning horn could not be performed, and therefore the cause of the horn malfunction was not determined.

The pilot reported that there were no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. He further reported that he experienced lengthy delays earlier in his trip which lengthened his duty day resulting in fatigue. The pilot offered that fatigue, combined with other distractors as well as complacency, could have been mitigated by a "strict adherence to the checklist and visual verification of gear status."

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Not used/operated
  • cause Not used/operated
  • cause Pilot
  • factor Gear position and warning — Failure
  • factor Pilot
  • factor Pilot
  • factor Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 130/09kt, vis 10sm

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.