Jurcan SEAWIND 3000 N57TJ

Summary

On 18 September 2016 at about 22:00 local time, a Jurcan SEAWIND 3000 registered N57TJ was involved in an accident near Renton, Washington, 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

18 September 2016 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Renton, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Renton Municipal Airport (RNT)

Coordinates

47.4892, -122.2094

Aircraft

Jurcan SEAWIND 3000

Registration

N57TJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lakeport → Renton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR16LA187

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the landing gear system to either fully retract or extend due to a cracked hydraulic fitting flare, which resulted in the loss of hydraulic pressure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a cross-country personal flight. He reported that, after arriving at his destination and trying to ensure that the airplane was configured for the water landing, he observed that the right main landing gear (MLG) indicator light was off and that the hydraulic pressure read 0. The pilot then attempted to retract the right MLG several times to no avail. He chose to fly to a nearby airport with a paved runway, where the tower controller confirmed that the right MLG was extended but that the left MLG and nose landing gears were retracted. The pilot attempted to use the backup manual hydraulic pump and abrupt maneuvers to extend the remaining landing gear to no avail. The pilot chose to land on the runway with the landing gear partially retracted. The airplane touched down on the runway with the right MLG first. The pilot held the left wing off the runway as long as possible, but then the wing touched the runway, and the airplane veered off the runway surface. The airplane slid along the grass, impacted an airport sign and light, spun 180°, and then came to a rest. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that a hydraulic leak had originated from a cracked flare in a hydraulic line fitting, which caused the hydraulic fluid to leak, decreased the hydraulic pressure to 0, and prevented the landing gear system from fully extending or retracting.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.