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BFO87LA058

1987-08-23 · SOMERVILLE, Virginia, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 8W8

N81CA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (SOCATA TB 10, built 1989), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE NOSE GEAR PREMATURELY RETRACTED AND THE PROPS CONTACTED THE GRAVEL RUNWAY DURING THE TAKEOFF INITIAL CLIMB. THE PLT ATTEMPTED TO CONTINUE THE TAKEOFF AND THE ACFT SETTLED INTO TREES OFF THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RWY. POST-ACCIDENT INSPECTION FAILED TO REVEAL THE CAUSE OF THE GEAR RETRACTION. TWO DAYS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT THE PLT WAS UNABLE TO EXTEND THE LANDING GEAR AND HAD TO MANUALLY HAND PUMP THE GEAR DOWN. ON THE DAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT, THE PLT INSPECTED AND LUBRICATED THE LANDING GEAR SYSTEM. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_BFO87LA058.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.