Event FTW96LA402

Factual narrative

On August 23, 1996, approximately 1840 mountain daylight time, a Cessna TR182, N757QT, was substantially damaged when the main landing gear collapsed during landing at Telluride, Colorado. The private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight that originated at Loveland, Colorado, on August 23, 1996, approximately 1630. According to the pilot, when he was 10 miles from the airport, he called for an airport advisory but got no reply. When he was 5 miles from the airport, he lowered the landing gear. The pilot said there was a total electrical failure, and he but could not recall if he observed a GEAR DOWN AND LOCKED indication. He attempted to reset the alternator/voltage regulator circuit breaker but to no avail. Upon landing, the left and right main landing gears collapsed; the nose landing gear was down and locked. This mishap was reported on the date of the occurrence as an incident. On September 23, 1996, the Denver Field Office of the National Transportation Safety Board was advised by the FAA's Salt Lake City, Utah, Flight Standards District Office that an airworthiness inspector had examined the airplane and found that the left horizontal stabilizer forward and aft spars were bent. A spokesman for West Star Aviation, a repair facility in Grand Junction, Colorado, reported the generator control unit (GCU) had failed. The unit was sent to Precision Airmotive in Everett, Washington, for examination and testing. A company spokesman identified the GCU as one of their products and confirmed the unit had failed. As the pilot lowered the landing gear, there was a total electrical failure. He said he could not recall if he observed a GEAR DOWN AND LOCKED indication. He attempted to reset the alternator/voltage regulator circuit breaker, but to no avail. During the landing, the main landing gear collapsed, but the nose landing gear remained down and locked. The airplane skidded off the runway, damaging the left horizontal stabilizer forward and aft spars. Postaccident examination by a repair facility (and later confirmed by the manufacturer) disclosed the generator control unit (GCU) had failed. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12