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MIA88LA010

1987-10-12 · FT LAUDERDALE, Florida, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport FLL

N601TA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (EUROCOPTER AS 350 B3, built 2009), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

AFTER THE PLT PLACED THE MASTER SWITCH ON TO START THE ENGINES THE LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED. HE STATED THAT THE PASSENGER, IN THE CO-PLT SEAT, BUMPED THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE INTO THE UP POSITION. THE PASSENGER STATED THAT HE DID NOT. INSP OF THE ACFT REVEALED THAT THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE WAS IN THE DOWN POSITION & THAT THE RT GEAR SAFETY SWITCH FAILED INTERNALLY. FAILURE OF THE SWITCH WILL NOT CAUSE THE GEAR TO COLLAPSE UNLESS THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE IS PLACED IN THE UP POSITION. THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE IS DESIGNED SO THAT IT MUST BE PULLED OUT THEN PUSHED UP TO RETRACT THE LANDING GEAR. NO DETERMINATION COULD BE MADE AS TO WHO PLACED THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE UP PRIOR TO TURNING ON THE MASTER SWITCH. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_MIA88LA010.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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