5 Apr 2023: BEECH 95

5 Apr 2023: BEECH 95 (N21RS) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Bremerton, WA, United States

Probable cause

Failure of the down limit and down indicator switch and the warning horn switch assemblies, which prevented the landing gear from extending and at the same time providing a false indication that the landing gear was extended.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On April 5, 2023, about 1500 Pacific daylight time, a Beech 95, N21RS sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Bremerton, Washington. The pilot was uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The airplane had been parked on a ramp under a tarpaulin for approximately one year, and that this was the first flight after an annual inspection that had recently been performed. He stated that on final approach for landing, the gear selector lever was down, and the landing gear indicator green light was illuminated. The pilot stated the gear collapsed a few seconds after touchdown, and after viewing the damage, he believed the gear never extended. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage at the lateral wing spar carry-through structure. Postaccident examination immediately following the accident revealed that the landing gear did not extend with the gear selector lever in the down position, although the gear status light illuminated green. The aural gear warning horn, which was designed to activate if the gear was retracted with the throttles at low engine power, was also not audible. Further examination of the gear extension system revealed the landing gear down limit and down indicator switch, along with the interconnected warning horn switch, were stuck in the normally open (NO) position. The NO condition had caused this portion of the electrical circuit to falsely indicate a landing gear down and safe position even though the landing gear was retracted. The NO condition also disabled the landing gear motor circuit and the landing gear warning horn circuit. In this condition the down and locked indicator only needed the landing gear position switch selected to the down position to complete the circuit for a green light gear down indication. After restoring normal operation to the switches, the landing gear extension and gear warning horn operated normally.

Contributing factors

  • Malfunction

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 210/10kt, 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.