North American NAVION N8895H

Summary

On 5 October 2016 at about 19:45 local time, a North American NAVION registered N8895H was involved in an accident near Palmer, Alaska, 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

5 October 2016 at 19:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Palmer, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Palmer Muni (PAQ)

Coordinates

61.5950, -149.0886

Aircraft

North American NAVION

Registration

N8895H

Category

Airplane

Year built

1947

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Birchwood → Palmer

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA17CA023

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to extend the landing gear for landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of a retractable landing gear equipped airplane reported that he landed with the landing gear retracted. He further reported that the airplane slid about 100 feet to a stop near the right edge of the runway. The fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Safety Inspector assigned to the accident, by coincidence, was already at the accident airport for an unrelated event. The inspector observed the landing gear retracted into the wheel wells and observed the landing gear handle in the up position. He further reported that the pilot was using a "noise cancelling headset." According to the inspector, the landing gear warning horn was not designed to sound through the headset/ intercom system, but would be audible in the cockpit. He reported that during the airplane recovery process the landing gear handle was moved to the down position and the landing gear extended and locked normally. The FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB), CE-16-08, Noise Cancelling Headsets, in part states: "In many cases, pilots are using the noise cancelling headsets as supplementary equipment during operations. When wearing these headsets, the pilot may be unaware of environmental sounds and audible warning annunciations in the cockpit that do not come through the intercom system." The FAA SAIB recommends that general aviation pilots and operators: • Become familiar with the safety information in FAA InFO 0700 • Elect to find other solutions to discern such alarms or sounds, or discontinue using these headsets if any audible alarms or environmental sounds cannot be discerned while wearing a noise cancelling headset. The pilot did not report whether or not he had heard the landing gear warning horn prior to landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.