North American B25 N747AF

Summary

On 26 March 2011 at about 18:00 local time, a North American B25 registered N747AF, operated by Lewis Fighter Fleet LLC, was involved in an accident near Encinal, Texas, United States. 9 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

26 March 2011 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Encinal, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

El Jardin Ranch Airport (XA66)

Coordinates

28.0717, -99.2853

Aircraft

North American B25

Registration

N747AF

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Lewis Fighter Fleet LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Encinal → Encinal

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN11LA254

Nobody was injured.

The co-pilot’s premature retraction of the landing gear during takeoff, which resulted in a gear collapse and impact with the runway surface.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the takeoff roll, at an airspeed of about 60 knots, the pilot rotated the nose of the airplane to the standard angle for takeoff. The co-pilot stated that during the takeoff roll, he thought that the pilot had called for the landing gear to be retracted, so he reached down and moved the landing gear handle. Shortly thereafter the landing gear began to collapse and both propellers and the fuselage impacted the runway surface. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane prior to the accident and the co-pilot said that he prematurely raised the gear handle.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.