NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA16CA506
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to extend the landing gear, which resulted in a gear-up landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that after four stop and go landings under night visual meteorological conditions, he planned to terminate the flight with a soft field landing. He further reported that as the airplane touched down, he heard scraping and the airplane subsequently slid to a stop on the runway. The pilot reported that he forgot to extend the landing gear for landing and did not hear the landing gear warning horn through his conventional (non-noise canceling) headset. The fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. During a postaccident interview with the chief flight instructor of the operator, he reported that the gear warning horn in the accident airplane was normally audible in the cockpit, but does not sound directly through the headset. He further reported that they are in the process of installing a "supplemental voice" gear warning horn that will sound through the airplane's audio panel. The pilot reported that after four stop and go landings under night visual meteorological conditions, he planned to terminate the flight with a soft field landing. He further reported that as the airplane touched down, he heard scraping and the airplane subsequently slid to a stop on the runway. The pilot reported that he forgot to extend the landing gear for landing and did not hear the landing gear warning horn through his conventional (non-noise canceling) headset. The fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. During a postaccident interview with the chief flight instructor of the operator, he reported that the gear warning horn in the accident airplane was normally audible in the cockpit, but does not sound directly through the headset. He further reported that they are in the process of installing a "supplemental voice" gear warning horn that will sound through the airplane's audio panel. 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-Landing gear selector-Not used/operated - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Gear extension and retract sys-Not used/operated - C
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Forgotten action/omission-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_GAA16CA506.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 or causal vocabulary (stall). 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 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall
Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Analysis on the Negative Emotional, Physiological, and Cognitive Responses Elicited from of the Activation of a Stall Alarm
Failing to identify an aerodynamic stall can lead to the inability of an aircraft to sustain flight. To warn pilots of an impending or fully-developed stall, many aircraft have safety devices installe…
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