Beechcraft F90 N960V

Summary

On 18 May 2020 at about 15:10 local time, a Beechcraft F90 registered N960V, operated by Empire Equipment Llc, was involved in an accident near Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. 2 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

18 May 2020 at 15:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Mc Ghee Tyson Airport (TYS)

Coordinates

35.8103, -83.9906

Aircraft

Beechcraft F90

Registration

N960V

Category

Airplane

Year built

1980

Engines

2

Operator

Empire Equipment Llc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Executive/Corporate

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Knoxville → Hilton Head Island

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA20LA192

Nobody was injured.

A failure of the left main landing gear scissors, which resulted in a landing gear collapse following a precautionary landing with the landing gear in an intermediate position..

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Shortly after takeoff, the pilot moved the landing gear handle to the retract position, and the red “gear unsafe” light illuminated. The pilot conducted a low-altitude approach so that the tower controller could visually confirm the condition of the landing gear; the tower controller reported that the nose landing gear appeared “slanted.” The pilot then performed the unsafe gear checklist and attempted to manually lower the landing gear, but the red gear unsafe light remained illuminated. During a subsequent low-altitude approach, the controller indicated that the main gear appeared down but that the nose gear did not appear to be fully down and locked. The pilot performed a precautionary landing, and, shortly after touchdown, the main and nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane skidded to a stop. Examination of the left main landing gear revealed that the landing gear scissors had fractured at the bolt attachment area and that the landing gear was twisted sideways and jammed against the main gear doors. The landing gear circuit breaker that controlled the landing gear motor had popped. The airplane manufacturer’s landing gear manual extension procedure required the emergency gear selector handle to be in the STOP detent. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the handle was not placed in the STOP detent; however, it could not be determined, from the available evidence for this investigation, if the landing gear manual extension procedure could have been successfully accomplished with the landing gear system failure that occurred during the accident flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.