14 Jun 2018: DORNIER GMBH ALPHA JET No Series — Blue City Holding LLC

14 Jun 2018: DORNIER GMBH ALPHA JET No Series — Blue City Holding LLC

No fatalities • Sacramento, CA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear before landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s and the flight instructor’s failure to adequately monitor the workload.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

During an instructional flight, in a twin-engine advanced jet trainer, a visual, simulated no-flap approach and landing was planned. Audio data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicated that the pilot requested a left closed traffic, simulated no-flap pattern, and stated that he needed to go out about 4-miles on upwind. By the time the controller in the Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) responded, the pilot had already started the crosswind turn and therefore the controller cleared him to the overhead pattern, left closed traffic. Subsequently, the controller initially instructed the pilot to make the base turn when able, but then instructed him to turn now, in order to be sequenced in front of slower traffic, on a 5-mile final approach. The controller further stated to the pilot that they would get him the 4-miles on the next pattern. The pilot accepted the turn clearance and reported back to the controller that he was in a turn. A review of radar data indicated that during the final turn, the airplane overshot the final approach by over 1,800 ft to the northwest.

The filed company report further stated that flying a no-flap approach and landing required maintaining a higher airspeed during the final turn and when established on final approach, the airplane's airspeed had to be quickly bled off. The higher approach speed, difficulty of maintaining airspeed, combined with the early turn to final, increased the pilot's workload during the simulated no-flap pattern. While on final approach, the pilot extended the air brakes, which are typically extended just prior to lowering the landing gear, but inadvertently failed to extend the landing gear. The flight instructor failed to notice the omission. Subsequently, the airplane landed on its belly and sustained substantial damage to the bottom of the fuselage. A post landing fire ensued. The pilots reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

  • cause Student/instructed pilot
  • cause Not used/operated
  • cause Pilot
  • factor Instructor/check pilot
  • factor Pilot
  • Effect on personnel

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 230/08kt, 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.