Cessna 501 N501KM

Summary

On 20 May 2020 at about 00:30 local time, a Cessna 501 registered N501KM was involved in an accident near Houston, Texas, 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

20 May 2020 at 00:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Houston, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

William P Hobby (HOU)

Coordinates

29.6459, -95.2769

Aircraft

Cessna 501

Registration

N501KM

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gainesville → Houston

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20LA185

Nobody was injured.

The malfunction of the left main landing gear down lock, which resulted in a gear collapse upon landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On final approach to his destination airport, the pilot lowered the landing gear for a full stop landing. He received two of three green landing gear down position indicator lights. The left main landing gear light was not illuminated, and a warning horn sounded. The pilot recycled the landing gear and received the same result. The pilot queried the tower and another airplane to confirm that his landing gear were extended, and both told the pilot that they saw all three gear extended. Consistent with airplane manufacturer guidance, the pilot then performed maneuvers to generate lateral G-force on the landing gear in an attempt to get a gear locked indication on the left main gear, which was not successful. Upon landing, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane veered off the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing and underbelly of the airplane. Examination of the airplane’s landing gear system revealed the internal down lock mechanism of the left main landing gear actuator malfunctioned. The cockpit gear position indicator lights functioned normally. There were no recent logbook entries concerning anomalies with the left main landing gear.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.