ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 233337
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| Date: | Friday 28 February 2020 |
| Time: | 11:51 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage |
| Owner/operator: | K Hardware Inc, |
| Registration: | N304LA |
| MSN: | 4622033 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3924 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming TI0-540 SER |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | San Jose-Norman Y. Mineta International Airport (SJC/KSJC), CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Idaho Falls-Fanning Field, ID (IDA/KIDA) |
| San Martin, CA (E16) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Despite several attempts, the airplane's landing gear was unable to be extended and locked during the approach to the destination airport. The flight instructor elected to divert to a more suitable airport where they could circle while they tried to extend the landing gear. Continued attempts by the pilot receiving instruction and the flight instructor to troubleshoot the problem and extend the landing gear were unsuccessful. The flight instructor subsequently landed the airplane with the landing gear retracted.
Postaccident examination of the land gear system revealed that the hydraulic power pack used to operate the landing gear had a lack of adequate hydraulic fluid in the reservoir, consistent with a hydraulic line being disconnected to release the landing gear during recovery and not reconnected. Therefore, the hydraulic fluid level in the reservoir could not be determined prior to the accident, however, . once properly serviced with hydraulic fluid, the power pack functioned appropriately. It's likely the power pack was not serviced to the proper level during the accident flight, which resulted in the failure of the landing gear to extend.
During initial testing, the landing emergency release valve did not release hydraulic pressure when activated. Two bolts located on the valve bracket were missing lockwire. The bolts are supposed to be torqued and safety wired to prevent movement of the valve lever setting. The valve bracket and valve lever were at the extreme setting, which would produce minimal activation of the valve. The loose valve bracket bolts could affect the valve lever position by allowing the valve bracket to slide when actuating the valve. Once the valve bracket bolts were appropriately secured, the valve functioned properly with no anomalies noted. It's most likely the valve bracket bolts were not installed properly with lockwire.
Although the investigation identified other potential causes of the valve not functioning properly, including the rigging of the actuation cable to the landing emergency release valve and the valve possibly not being fully set to the closed position at an unknown time, the investigation was unable to determine the exact cause of the landing gear emergency release valve failure.
Probable Cause: The failure to properly service the hydraulic power pack prevented a normal landing gear extension. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the landing gear emergency release valve to function properly for reasons that could not be determined based on available information.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB WPR20LA104
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N304LA/history/20200228/1430Z/KIDA/KSJC
FAA register: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N304LA
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 12 February 1996 | N89HS | Harrington, George R. | 0 | Butler, PA | |
w/o |
Location
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Feb-2020 22:27 | Geno | Added |
| 29-Feb-2020 05:39 | RobertMB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Feb-2020 14:55 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Time, Source, Embed code] |
| 01-Mar-2020 07:43 | Anon. | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 28-Mar-2020 23:20 | Captain Adam | Updated [Location, Damage, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2022 14:34 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
| 01-Jul-2022 14:36 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 10-Jun-2023 18:39 | harro | Updated [[Aircraft type, Source, Embed code, Narrative]] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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