Piper PA 31P N192CS

Summary

On 30 April 2016 at about 14:30 local time, a Piper PA 31P registered N192CS was involved in an accident near Killeen, Texas, 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

30 April 2016 at 14:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Killeen, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Skylark Field (ILE)

Coordinates

31.0858, -97.6864

Aircraft

Piper PA 31P

Registration

N192CS

Category

Airplane

Year built

1973

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Killeen → Killeen

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN16LA189

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear due to his distraction with the flaps, his misinterpretation of the landing gear warning horn, and his failure to verify that the landing gear were down, which resulted in a landing with the gear retracted.        

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had departed on the business flight but decided to return to the airport to wait for the weather to improve. He indicated that, on approach, he lowered the flaps to 15° to slow the airplane to within "gear down speed." The pilot noticed that the flaps continued past 15°, and he took his hand off the landing gear lever and raised the flaps back up to the fully retracted position. The pilot overshot the runway on the turn to final. As he attempted to align the airplane with the runway centerline, he heard a warning horn, which he thought was the stall warning horn. He then landed on the runway with the landing gear retracted, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage frame and stringers. After the accident, the pilot stated he had mistaken the gear-up warning horn for the stall warning horn. The pilot also said he did not visually check the landing gear indicator lights or look at the mirrors to verify the landing gear was down.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.