Piper PA-44-180 N816AT

Summary

On 7 January 2024 at about 11:10 local time, a Piper PA-44-180 registered N816AT, operated by ATP Flight School, was involved in an accident near Fort Worth, Texas, United States. 2 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

7 January 2024 at 11:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Fort Worth, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Perot Fld/Fort Worth Alliance (AFW)

Coordinates

32.9876, -97.3188

Aircraft

Piper PA-44-180

Registration

N816AT

Category

Airplane

Year built

2022

Engines

2

Operator

ATP Flight School

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN24LA086

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear and the flight instructor’s lack of recognition and inadequate remedial action, which resulted in a gear up landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that he and the private pilot receiving instruction had just completed their seventh landing of the morning. The private pilot reduced the throttle on downwind and the landing gear warning horn sounded so he increased the throttle and continued in the traffic pattern. The flight instructor prompted him to extend the flaps and the student stated that he would extend the landing gear. They “confirmed 3 green,” which would indicate that the landing gear was down and locked. During the landing flare, “no gear warning horn was alarming,” but as they got closer to the ground the instructor observed sparks out of the left window. The airplane slid on the runway, came to rest upright, and sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage longerons. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector completed an extensive examination and functional testing of the landing gear system. With the airplane on jacks, he cycled the landing gear at least six times and determined the landing gear, warning annunciations and aural alerts operated per the procedures in the airplane’s maintenance manual and there were no anomalies found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.