Skip to content

CHI87LA210

1987-09-08 · BATESVILLE, Indiana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HLB

N73KA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (RANS S-21 OUTBOUND, built 2021), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS APPROACHING HILLENBRAND AIRPORT WHEN THE PILOT NOTICED A THUNDERSTORM CELL MOVING IN ON THE AIRPORT. THE PILOT ELECTED TO EXPEDITE INTO HILLENBRAND. DURING THE APPROACH THE LANDING GEAR WAS NEVER PLACED IN THE EXTENDED POSITION. THE PILOT THOUGHT HE PUT THE LANDING GEAR DOWN, BUT STATED HE WAS 'VERY BUSY' DURING THE APPROACH AND THAT HIS ATTENTION WAS 'FOCUSED' OUTSIDE THE AIRCRAFT DURING THE LANDING PHASE. THE AIRCRAFT LANDED WITH ITS GEAR IN THE RETRACTED POSITION CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO THE AIRCRAFT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_CHI87LA210.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

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

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (thunderstorm). All research papers