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DEN87FA003

1986-10-12 · DENVER, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DEN

N3MU has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BEECH 58), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

ACFT HAD BEEN REPOSSESSED AND WAS BEING FERRIED FROM GRAND JUNCTION, CO, TO CHICAGO, IL, WITH EN ROUTE STOP AT DENVER, CO. AFTER TAKEOFF FROM DENVER, LANDING GEAR WOULD NOT RETRACT. PLT MADE SEVERAL ATTEMPTS WITHOUT SUCCESS. HE ELECTED TO RETURN TO DENVER. PLT SAID THAT ON FINAL APCH THE RIGHT ENG BEGAN SURGING AND THE LEFT ENG WOULD NOT INCREASE PWR. ACFT MADE HARD LANDING ON RWY, BREAKING LEFT WING. INVESTIGATION REVEALED BOTH SPEED LEVERS WOULD NOT FUNCTION BECAUSE ENG PROP GOVERNORS AND UNDERSPEED FUEL GOVERNOR RESET ARMS, SPLINED ONTO UNDERSPEED FUEL GOVERNOR SHAFTS, WERE POSITIONED ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF SPEED LEVER ACTUATING ARMS. LANDING GEAR FUNCTIONED NORMALLY DURING SWING TESTS. IT WAS LATER LEARNED THAT RIGHT MAIN TIRE HAD BLOWN ON TAKEOFF 3 DAYS EARLIER AND REQUIRED REPAIR. MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL OPENED THE LANDING GEAR CIRCUIT BREAKERS TO PRECLUDE INADVERTENT GEAR RETRACTION. PLT SAID HE CHECKED CIRCUIT BREAKERS WHEN GEAR FAILED TO RETRACT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_DEN87FA003.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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