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Atlas / NTSB / ERA21LA315

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA21LA315

2021-08-02 Somerville, New Jersey, United States Airport · SMQ None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N52MM

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 210N

Engine

CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19881117

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A687B4

Registrant of record

HAPPY SKY LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear, which resulted in a gear up landing and substantial damage to the fuselage.

Factual narrative

The private pilot departed on a short flight to a local airport. He said he made a straight in approach and conducted a before landing checklist. Upon landing, the pilot realized the landing gear was still retracted as the airplane settled onto the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the lower fuselage. A postaccident examination of the airplane’s landing gear and gear warning horn by a mechanic found no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Though the pilot said he used the before-landing checklist, he failed to extend the landing gear and subsequently landed with the gear retracted. 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).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Gear extension and retract sys-Not used/operated
  • Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Forgotten action/omission-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA315.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.