Bellanca 17 31A N93715

Summary

On 24 March 2015 at about 20:45 local time, a Bellanca 17 31A registered N93715 was involved in an accident near Siler City, North Carolina, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 March 2015 at 20:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Siler City, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Siler City Municipal Airport (SCR)

Coordinates

35.7042, -79.5042

Aircraft

Bellanca 17 31A

Registration

N93715

Category

Airplane

Year built

1973

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Ferry

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Apex → Siler City

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15CA169

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to ensure that the airplane's landing gear was down and locked prior to touchdown.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a ferry flight, while turning from downwind leg to base leg of the airport traffic pattern, the pilot became distracted when the cabin door popped open. The pilot continued on the approach and prior to touchdown, advanced the propeller rpm, set the mixture to full rich, and put the flaps down. As he reduced the throttle he heard a horn and thought it was the stall warning horn, but afterwards believed it probably was the gear warning horn, as they sounded somewhat similar. He did not think anything about it as he normally hears the stall horn at touchdown. He stated that he felt like the approach was a little faster than normal and he reduced the power to help to try to slow down. At touchdown he realized that he had not selected gear down. The airplane landed on its belly and when it came to a stop, there was smoke in the cockpit. Then when the pilot exited the cabin and stepped out on the wing to exit the airplane, he noticed flames on the aft side of the right wing. The airplane was subsequently destroyed by a postcrash fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.