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Atlas / NTSB / ERA25LA298

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA25LA298

2025-08-12 Columbia, South Carolina, United States Airport · CAE None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N7778M

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

VELOCITY VELOCITY XL RG

Year of manufacture

2011 · 14 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO 540 SER (260 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20140116

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA8684

Registrant of record

FLORIDA BEST AIRLINES LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A landing gear collapse during landing.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, he was selling the experimental amateur-built airplane and delivering it to the new owner at the time of the accident. During the landing roll, the airplane’s retractable main landing gear collapsed, followed by the nose landing gear collapsing a few seconds later. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the bottom of the fuselage. After the accident, aircraft recovery personnel lifted the airplane and all three-landing gear came down and locked into place. A mechanic then placed the airplane on jacks in a hangar and cycled the landing gear handle to the up position. The main landing gear raised and locked into place. The nose landing gear started to retract but the actuator was bent from impact and did not cycle all the way up. The landing gear handle was lowered to the down position, and the main landing gear came down and locked into place. The nose landing gear came down and locked into place. No evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures were identified with the airplane during the examination. 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).

  • Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_ERA25LA298.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.