Cirrus SF50 N727VB

Summary

On 10 August 2024 at about 00:50 local time, a Cirrus SF50 registered N727VB was involved in an accident near Watsonville, California, 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

10 August 2024 at 00:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Watsonville, California, United States

Nearest airport

Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI)

Coordinates

36.9348, -121.7911

Aircraft

Cirrus SF50

Registration

N727VB

Category

Airplane

Year built

2023

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ogden → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR24LA278

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s inadvertent use of the landing gear control handle instead of the flaps selector switch during the landing rollout, which resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that during the landing roll, about the time that he was applying the brakes, the nose landing gear collapsed. Having no training on what to do in this scenario, he cycled the landing gear by raising then lowering the landing gear control handle. Postflight inspection revealed substantial to the undercarriage near the nose landing gear bay. Stored onboard central maintenance computer (CMC) data showed that before touchdown the airplane was properly configured for landing with the flaps at 100%; the nose and both main landing gear were down and locked. After touchdown and during the landing roll, while both weight-on-wheels switches were temporarily unloaded, the landing gear handle was raised and then lowered, which unlocked the nose gear and allowed it to collapse. Additionally, both main landing gear became unlocked, but re-locked before they could collapse. After the nose gear collapse, the gear handle indicated an unexplained 4-second anomaly by indicating neither up nor down, then indicating down. Postaccident examination and a landing gear swing test revealed no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. A missing nose landing gear locking spring from the nose gear assembly was not causal to the accident. The flaps selector switch was located below the landing gear control handle. Further review of CMC data showed that the operators of the airplane often raise the flaps within seconds after touchdown, which was about the time that the nose landing gear collapsed. Although the pilot was familiar with the airplane and had accrued about 102 flight hours within the past 90 days, it is likely that the pilot inadvertently raised the landing gear control handle during the landing roll instead of selecting the flap selector switch to 0%.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.