Event ERA18LA058

Factual narrative

On December 21, 2017, about 1900 eastern standard time, a Mooney M20K, N5254G, was substantially damaged during landing at Venice Municipal Airport (VNC), Venice, Florida. The private pilot was not injured. Night, visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight that departed Darlington County Airport (UDG), Darlington, South Carolina. The flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.The pilot stated he departed Raleigh County Memorial Airport (BKW), Beckley, West Virginia, landed at UDG for fuel. He then departed for VNC and was receiving traffic advisory services from air traffic control (ATC). While on approach to VNC, he descended from 8,500 ft to 4,000 ft to get under a layer of scattered clouds. The pilot stated that he wasn't sure exactly when he moved the airplane's landing gear position selector, but that it was his normal procedure to extend the landing gear 10 miles from the destination airport in order to help slow the airplane. He continued the descent and disengaged the autopilot. About 1,200 ft above ground level he was "dodging clouds" and heard the pilot of a Cessna request a "pop-up" instrument flight rules clearance to VNC from ATC because there was sea fog in the vicinity of the airport. The pilot then decided to descend further to stay under the clouds and fog. He was then advised by ATC to climb immediately to 2,000 ft and follow the Cessna into VNC. He stated while on approach he extended the flaps and used speed brakes to slow slow the airplane. He also reduced the throttle in order to avoid overtaking the Cessna. At that time the landing gear horn activated. He then applied a small amount of throttle and the horn stopped. The subsequent landing proceeded normally until just after the flare when the pilot heard a scraping noise. After the airplane came to a stop on the runway, the pilot shut off the electrical power and exited the airplane. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector examined the airplane and noted that the during the landing airplane had slid along the runway on its belly for about 400 feet before coming to a stop. The inspector noted substantial damage to the lower fuselage stringers, the propeller, and nose landing gear door. The landing gear circuit breaker was open, and the landing gear selector was in the down position. Both main landing gear were only extended about 1-inch out of their respective wing wheel wells. During recovery from the runway the airplane was placed on jacks and the landing gear was lowered using the emergency gear extension system without incident. Damage to the landing gear extension system prevented further functional testing. The pilot held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. He reported 216 hours of total flight experience. His most recent application for an FAA third-class medical certificate was issued on November 30, 2017. The automated weather observing system at VNC was out of service at the time of the accident. The weather conditions reported at the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, Florida, which was located about 21 miles north of the accident site, included wind from 280° at 4 knots, visibility 9 statute miles, clear skies, temperature 22° C, dew point 22° C, and an altimeter setting of 30.10 inches of mercury. When asked how the accident could have been prevented, the pilot stated in part, "Divert to Sarasota where the weather was reported to be clear, no sea fog rolling about. By design, I had 2.5 hours of fuel remaining on board when I arrived at VNC, I did not need to land when I did." The private pilot approached the destination airport at the conclusion of the visual flight rules flight while receiving traffic advisory services from an air traffic controller. The pilot could not recall at what point during the approach he extended the landing gear but postulated that he may have done so about 10 miles from the airport. As the pilot was "dodging clouds" during the approach, he heard another pilot, who was also heading to the same airport, request a "pop-up" instrument flight rules clearance from the controller due to sea fog in the area. The controller then advised the accident pilot to follow the other airplane to the airport. During the approach to the runway, the accident pilot reduced the throttle to avoid overtaking the other airplane, and the landing gear warning horn activated. He then applied a small amount of throttle, and the horn stopped. The subsequent landing was normal until the landing flare, when the pilot heard a scraping noise. The airplane slid along the runway on its belly for 400 ft before coming to a stop. Postaccident examination of the landing gear revealed that the landing gear circuit breaker was open and that the landing gear position selector was in the down position. The main landing gear had extended minimally out of their respective wells, suggesting that the landing gear extension cycle had at least started but was not successfully completed. During recovery from the runway, the airplane was placed on jacks, and the landing gear was lowered using the emergency gear extension without incident. Damage to the landing gear extension system precluded further functional testing. Based on the available information, it is possible that at some point during the flight, the pilot moved the landing gear selector handle to the down position, but the landing gear did not extend. When the pilot heard the landing gear warning horn activate as he reduced throttle, he should have realized that the landing gear was not in a safe position for landing. It is likely that his fixation on the weather conditions and the other airplane landing at the airport distracted him from completing this task. Had the pilot diverted to another nearby airport where the weather was better, he could have performed additional troubleshooting and likely could have performed a successful emergency extension of the landing gear without the distraction of the weather and other traffic. 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 Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-(general)-Malfunction - C
• C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Forgotten action/omission-Pilot - C
• F Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring equip/instruments-Pilot - F