Piper PA46 N304LA

Summary

On 28 February 2020 at about 19:51 local time, a Piper PA46 registered N304LA was involved in an accident near San Jose, 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

28 February 2020 at 19:51

Classification

Accident

Location

San Jose, California, United States

Nearest airport

Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl (SJC)

Coordinates

37.3631, -121.9286

Aircraft

Piper PA46

Registration

N304LA

Category

Airplane

Year built

1989

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Idaho Falls → San Martin

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR20LA104

Nobody was injured.

The failure to properly service the hydraulic power pack prevented a normal landing gear extension. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the landing gear emergency release valve to function properly for reasons that could not be determined based on available information.  

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Despite several attempts, the airplane’s landing gear was unable to be extended and locked during the approach to the destination airport. The flight instructor elected to divert to a more suitable airport where they could circle while they tried to extend the landing gear. Continued attempts by the pilot receiving instruction and the flight instructor to troubleshoot the problem and extend the landing gear were unsuccessful. The flight instructor subsequently landed the airplane with the landing gear retracted. Postaccident examination of the land gear system revealed that the hydraulic power pack used to operate the landing gear had a lack of adequate hydraulic fluid in the reservoir, consistent with a hydraulic line being disconnected to release the landing gear during recovery and not reconnected. Therefore, the hydraulic fluid level in the reservoir could not be determined prior to the accident, however, . once properly serviced with hydraulic fluid, the power pack functioned appropriately. It’s likely the power pack was not serviced to the proper level during the accident flight, which resulted in the failure of the landing gear to extend. During initial testing, the landing emergency release valve did not release hydraulic pressure when activated. Two bolts located on the valve bracket were missing lockwire. The bolts are supposed to be torqued and safety wired to prevent movement of the valve lever setting. The valve bracket and valve lever were at the extreme setting, which would produce minimal activation of the valve. The loose valve bracket bolts could affect the valve lever position by allowing the valve bracket to slide when actuating the valve. Once the valve bracket bolts were appropriately secured, the valve functioned properly with no anomalies noted. It’s most likely the valve bracket bolts were not installed properly with lockwire. Although the investigation identified other potential causes of the valve not functioning properly, including the rigging of the actuation cable to the landing emergency release valve and the valve possibly not being fully set to the closed position at an unknown time, the investigation was unable to determine the exact cause of the landing gear emergency release valve failure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.