De Havilland DHC-7 N273EP

Summary

On 27 November 1999 at about 21:07 local time, a De Havilland DHC-7 registered N273EP, operated by Raytheon Systems Engr'g, was involved in an accident near Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 18 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 November 1999 at 21:07

Classification

Accident

Location

Kwajalein, Marshall Islands

Nearest airport

Bucholz Aaf (PKWA)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-7

Registration

N273EP

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Raytheon Systems Engr'g

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Roi-Namur

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

LAX00TA051

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the flight crew to properly execute the emergency landing gear extension procedure in response to a landing gear unsafe cockpit indication.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

Approaching the destination, when the landing gear was lowered, the nose gear indicated unsafe and, without landing, the flight returned to the point of departure. The pilot-in-command viewed the nose gear alignment marks in the nose gear inspection window and believed the nose gear was down and locked, and that the gear unsafe light was an erroneous indication. During the landing rollout, the nose landing gear slowly collapsed as the weight of the aircraft settled on the nose. Investigation by the operator revealed a failure at the boss end of the nose gear extend actuator. The operator also determined that the flight crew did not accomplish the emergency gear extension procedure as specified in the Airplane Flight Manual. During recovery of the aircraft from the runway, operation of the emergency gear extension hand pump lowered and locked the nose gear in 8 strokes of the pump.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.