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Atlas / NTSB / CEN26LA028

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN26LA028

2025-10-22 Hondo, Texas, United States Airport · HDO None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N17826

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH A36

Year of manufacture

1977 · 48 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19770404

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A139A2

Registrant of record

THREE SIX BONITA LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear before landing due to distraction and his failure to conduct the Before Landing checklist.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was inbound to the airport when he heard that another airplane was also approaching the airport. The pilot of the other airplane intended to enter the downwind for the same runway, so the pilot opted to do a straight in final approach. When the pilot initially intended to lower the landing gear, he realized the airplane was too fast, so he did not lower the landing gear at that time. Then, he heard the pilot of the other airplane make a radio call and he became distracted looking for the other airplane. As he approached the runway, he heard a horn, but he assumed it was the stall warning horn. He stated that he was not worried about the warning horn because the airplane was already positioned to land on the runway. The airplane then landed with the landing gear retracted. The lower fuselage structure was substantially damaged during the wheels-up landing. After the landing, the pilot realized the horn he heard was the landing gear warning horn and not the stall warning horn. He also said that he erroneously thought he lowered the gear down lever before landing, but it was the flap lever that he manipulated instead. The pilot acknowledged that he should have reviewed the Before Landing checklist before he entered the traffic pattern. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Forgotten action/omission-Pilot
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of checklist-Pilot
  • Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Attention-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Gear extension and retract sys-Not used/operated

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_CEN26LA028.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗