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LAX83FUJ11

1983-01-04 · PHOENIX, Arizona, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PHX

N25GH has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON 206L-1, built 1982), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE LEFT GEAR RETRACTED. THE MODIFICATION OF THE ACFT FOR EXPERIMENTAL USE REDUCED ACCESS TO THE RUDDER TRIM CONTROL WITH THE GEAR SELECTOR IN THE DOWN POSITION. WITH THE SELECTOR IN NEUTRAL, IT WAS POSSIBLE TO APPLY LOADS TO THE GEAR WHICH REMOVED THE GEAR FROM THE POSITIVE DOWN & LOCKED POSITION. POSITIONING THE SELECTOR TO THE DOWN POSITION EXERTS 1500 PSI TOWARD THE DOWN POSITION. SUBSEQUENT TO THE ACCIDENT, THE OPERATOR RELOCATED THE RUDDER TRIM KNOB TO ALLOW RAPID 360 DEG OPERATION OF THE TRIM HANDLE WITH NO INTERFERENCE WHEN THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE IS IN THE DOWN POSITION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1983_LAX83FUJ11.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.