Piper PA-32R-300 N5868V

Summary

On 26 April 2010 at about 22:00 local time, a Piper PA-32R-300 registered N5868V, operated by Silas Liechty, was involved in an accident near Jamestown, North Dakota, United States. One person was 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

26 April 2010 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Jamestown, North Dakota, United States

Nearest airport

Jamestown Regional Airport (JMS)

Coordinates

46.9297, -98.6781

Aircraft

Piper PA-32R-300

Registration

N5868V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Silas Liechty

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Jamestown → Jamestown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10CA228

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to lower the landing gear, resulting in a gear-up landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was approaching the airport with the intention of performing three touch and go landings. He went over the landing checklist as he was nearing the field, but he did not put the landing gear down because he was not on the downwind leg, where he would normally complete the checklist. He reported, “As I turned final, I thought I had the gear down but didn’t.” He reported that the gear up warning horn never sounded. The airplane touched down in a wings level attitude on the runway, which resulted in a bent propeller and substantial damage to the “hat” assemblies, which are U-shaped structural channels on the belly of the airplane. The landing gear handle was found in the UP position. The inspection of the airplane revealed that the landing gear extended and retracted when the airplane was put on jacks. The “Warning Gear Unsafe” light illuminated when the throttle was pulled to the idle position with the landing gear in the retracted position. The “Warning Gear Unsafe” light is about a 1-inch square red light located directly in front of the pilot on the instrument panel. However, the “Gear Warning Horn” did not sound.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.