Cessna T210L N211LC

Summary

On 14 October 2009 at about 21:58 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N211LC, operated by Suddarth Steven Craig, was involved in an accident near Albuquerque, New Mexico, 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

14 October 2009 at 21:58

Classification

Accident

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Nearest airport

Albuquerque (ABQ)

Coordinates

35.0372, -106.6056

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N211LC

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Suddarth Steven Craig

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Edgewood → Albuquerque

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10LA014

Nobody was injured.

The mechanic's failure to find and repair a leaking main landing gear hydraulic line during an annual inspection.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The single-engine airplane had just undergone an annual inspection, which included several landing gear retraction and emergency gear extension tests. The commercial pilot performed an extensive pre-flight inspection before he departed on its first post-maintenance flight and found no anomalies. Shortly after takeoff, as the pilot retracted the landing gear, the hydraulic pump stopped and the "gear-up" light did not illuminate. He then tried to extend the gear and nothing happened. The pilot referenced an inspection mirror on the right wing and realized all three landing gear were dangling between the up and down positions. The pilot stabilized the airplane and used his cell phone to call Cessna Aircraft Company. An engineer provided troubleshooting techniques, but the pilot was unable to secure the gear in the down-and-locked position. The pilot then made a partial gear-up landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the left horizontal stabilizer. The airplane had been modified under a Supplemental Type Certificate in 1987, which removed the main landing gear doors and replaced them with fairings. As a result, some of the landing gear hydraulic lines were capped. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector performed an examination of the airplane and found a hydraulic line in the landing gear system that was not properly capped and was leaking. The line was re-capped and several gear extension/retraction tests were successfully performed. The uncapped line should have been found and repaired during the annual inspection.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.