Piper PA 30 N10KC

Summary

On 8 August 2019 at about 15:45 local time, a Piper PA 30 registered N10KC was involved in an accident near Phoenix, Arizona, United States. 3 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

8 August 2019 at 15:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway (IWA)

Coordinates

33.3150, -111.6581

Aircraft

Piper PA 30

Registration

N10KC

Category

Airplane

Year built

1964

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR19LA220

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the landing gear due to the nose gear being positioned to the far right during retraction, which caused the nose gear to jam upon retraction. 

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight practicing a single-engine approach and go-around, the flight instructor and student pilot noticed that the landing gear would not fully retract. In addition, the landing gear circuit breaker was in the open position. The flight instructor reset the circuit breaker and attempted to cycle the landing gear but was unsuccessful because the circuit breaker popped back to the open position on each cycle attempt. Attempts to manually extend the landing gear were unsuccessful. Subsequently, the flight instructor elected to land with the landing gear intentionally in the retracted position, resulting to substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Postaccident examination revealed that the nose gear was positioned to the far right turn position when the pilots attempted to retract the nose gear while practicing a single engine out landing and takeoff. Therefore, the centering mechanism was not able to center the nose gear, resulting in a jammed nose gear, which also likely tripped the circuit breaker.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.