What happened
On April 20, 1996, at approximately 12:15 Atlantic standard time, a Cessna 441, registration N441W, was involved in an accident during the landing phase of a private flight in Walkers Cay, Bahamas. The aircraft had departed from Destin, Florida, roughly two and a half hours prior to the incident. The flight was being conducted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) with a filed flight plan, and weather conditions were reported as visual meteorological conditions.
During the final approach to the runway, the pilot encountered difficulties that led to the aircraft striking the ground prematurely. According to the pilot, the plane landed short of the intended runway surface. The impact of this short landing caused the main landing gear to shear away from the airframe, followed by the collapse of the nose landing gear.
Despite the significant impact, there were no injuries reported among the pilot and the three passengers on board. The aircraft sustained substantial damage as a result of the gear failure and subsequent contact with the ground.