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Atlas / NTSB / WPR22LA249

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR22LA249

2022-06-19 Red Bluff, California, United States Airport · RBL None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4383D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-32R-301T

Year of manufacture

0000

Engine

LYCOMING TI0-540 SER (310 hp)

Seats / Engines

7 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19950912

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A5439B

Registrant of record

FLYING A CHARTERS LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to detect the tripped landing gear motor circuit breaker, which prevented the gear from fully locking in the down position, and subsequent collapse during landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the retractable gear airplane reported that, while conducting a practice instrument approach, he felt the gear go down and thought that he saw three green landing gear lights, and no gear unsafe indicator light. The main landing gear touched down and the nose dropped down lower than normal. The propeller struck the ground and the left main gear collapsed. The airplane received substantial damage to the left aileron. According to the pilot, a mechanic discovered the landing gear motor circuit breaker had popped, which disabled the landing gear from fully extending and lock in the down position and disabled the warning light system. Once the circuit breaker was reset, the landing gear functioned normally. 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).

  • Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring equip/instruments-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_WPR22LA249.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.