NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA16CA080
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to properly configure the airplane's landing gear prior to landing, which resulted in a gear-up landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the multiengine turbine-powered airplane departed on a positioning flight to a nearby airport to have the flaps examined. The pilot performed the landing checklist, which included extending the landing gear when the airplane was about 7 miles from the destination airport. Upon contacting the control tower, he was informed that the airplane was number two to land and was provided a vector for sequencing. After about 4 minutes, the pilot was instructed to turn toward the airport and cleared to land. The pilot stated that during his preparation for a no flap landing, he forgot that he had retracted and not subsequently lowered the landing gear. During the landing flare, the control tower stated "gear" and he attempted to abort the landing; however, the airplane contacted the runway and slid to a stop, about 2,500 feet beyond the beginning of the runway. A fuel bladder leak resulted in a fire in the area of the left engine nacelle and substantial damage to the left wing. The plot stated that he did not hear a landing gear warning horn prior to the accident. According to the airplane flight manual, the landing gear warning would activate intermittently with the gear not down below a certain power setting. Postaccident damage precluded a functional check of the landing gear warning system; however, the pilot stated that he utilized additional power during the no flap landing and that he did not recall the specific power setting used. He further reported about 12,600 hours of total flight experience, which included about 955 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane. The pilot of the multiengine turbine-powered airplane departed on a positioning flight to a nearby airport to have the flaps examined. The pilot performed the landing checklist, which included extending the landing gear when the airplane was about 7 miles from the destination airport. Upon contacting the control tower, he was informed that the airplane was number two to land and was provided a vector for sequencing. After about 4 minutes, the pilot was instructed to turn toward the airport and cleared to land. The pilot stated that during his preparation for a no flap landing, he forgot that he had retracted and not subsequently lowered the landing gear. During the landing flare, the control tower stated "gear" and he attempted to abort the landing; however, the airplane contacted the runway and slid to a stop, about 2,500 feet beyond the beginning of the runway. A fuel bladder leak resulted in a fire in the area of the left engine nacelle and substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot stated that he did not hear a landing gear warning horn prior to the accident. According to the airplane flight manual, the landing gear warning would activate intermittently with the gear not down below a certain power setting. Postaccident damage precluded a functional check of the landing gear warning system; however, the pilot stated that he utilized additional power during the no flap landing and that he did not recall the specific power setting used. He further reported about 12,600 hours of total flight experience, which included about 955 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane. 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).
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Configuration-Not attained/maintained - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_ERA16CA080.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Book
The Airline Quality Rating 2003
The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
Frequency of Specific Categories of Aviation Accidents and Incidents During 2001-2010
The purpose of this study was to determine the types of accidents or incidents that are most important to the aviation safety risk.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
An Application of CICCT Accident Categories to Aviation Accidents in 1988-2004
Interventions or technologies developed to improve aviation safety often focus on specific causes or accident categories. Evaluation of the potential effectiveness of those interventions is dependent …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2016 · Journal article (JAAER)
The Tornado that Struck Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Christmas Day, 2006: Lessons Learned from a Near-Miss
An F2 tornado that touched down in Daytona Beach on Christmas Day afternoon caused over $50 million of damage to the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus and nearby neighborhoods.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2015 · Conference paper
Assessing the Commercial Aviation Impact of the Year 2000 Open Skies Agreements between the United States and African Countries with Longstanding Flights
The U.S. started a comprehensive campaign towards Open Skies agreement in 1992. The major benefits of Open sky agreement are reported to include increase of passenger and cargo volume between partners…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2009 · Industry report (AQRR)
Airline Quality Rating 2009
The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method for assessing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗