Mitsubishi MU-2B-26A N333WF

Summary

On 12 March 2005 at about 01:20 local time, a Mitsubishi MU-2B-26A registered N333WF, operated by Jaax Flying Service, Inc., was involved in an accident near Blythe, California, United States. 4 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

12 March 2005 at 01:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Blythe, California, United States

Nearest airport

Blythe (BLH)

Coordinates

33.6189, -114.7169

Aircraft

Mitsubishi MU-2B-26A

Registration

N333WF

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Jaax Flying Service, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Banning → Blythe

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX05LA178

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's failure to lower the landing gear prior to landing. A factor to the accident was the pilot's diverted attention due to the flap system anomaly.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot failed to lower the landing gear prior to touching down on the runway. The pilot said that during the approach into the airport, the flaps would not lock into the 20-degree extended position. The pilot decided to execute a no-flap landing and referred to the emergency checklist. The checklist advised the pilot to extend the landing gear; however, the pilot skimmed over the information thinking that the gear was already down and locked, and focused on the stabilized approach into the airport. The airplane touched down with the gear in the retracted position. No mechanical malfunctions were noted with the landing gear system on the airplane and a ground test run of the flaps did not reproduce the failure encountered during flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.