CHI95LA096 · Cessna T210N
Cessna T210N · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) to Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI95LA096
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna T210N
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6622N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD)To Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), Chicago, IL
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · climb to cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Electrical system, drive/belt › Disconnected
- Pilot in command › Gear down and locked, not attained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Rockford, IL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AFTER TAKING OFF IN INSTRUMENT CONDITIONS, THE PILOT SAW THE AIRPLANE'S CABIN LIGHTS FLICKER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE LOW VOLTAGE WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED, AND THE VOLTMETER INDICATED AN ABNORMAL VOLTAGE READING. THE PILOT RECEIVED ATC CLEARANCE TO DEVIATE AND PERFORM AN ILS APPROACH TO A NEARBY AIRPORT. ON THE APPROACH, THE PILOT LOST THE LOCALIZER AND GLIDESLOPE INDICATIONS AFTER ATTEMPTING A NORMAL EXTENSION OF THE LANDING GEAR. THE INVESTIGATION DID NOT DETERMINE IF THE LANDING GEAR HAD GONE INTO THE DOWN AND LOCKED POSITION AT THIS TIME. A MISSED APPROACH WAS MADE AND THE PILOT RETURNED TO THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT WITH USE OF DEAD RECKONING. HE STATED THAT HE FOLLOWED THE EMERGENCY GEAR EXTENSION PROCEDURE, BUT WAS UNABLE TO VERIFY THAT THE GEAR WAS DOWN AND LOCKED DUE TO HIS HEAVY WORKLOAD AND ICE ACCUMULATION ON THE AIRPLANE. THE PILOT RECEIVED LIGHT GUN SIGNALS FROM THE TOWER TO LAND. WHILE LANDING, THE AIRPLANE'S LEFT GEAR COLLAPSED, THE AIRPLANE SKIDDED, STRUCK A MOUND OF DIRT AND A CONCRETE ELECTRICAL VAULT. POSTACCIDENT EXAMINATION REVEALED THE ALTERNATOR BELT HAD BECOME UNATTACHED. THE LANDING GEAR FUNCTIONED NORMALLY WHEN CHECKED AFTER THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
A DISCONNECT OF THE ALTERNATOR BELT, AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO ATTAIN A DOWN AND LOCKED CONDITION OF THE GEAR WITH THE EMERGENCY EXTENSION SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI95LA096
- Event ID
- 20001207X03089
- Case number
- CHI95LA096
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-03-07.
- API snapshot SHA-256: b92ee50f5608500c6f0d1bec78f1ab79b0dc76e09642a20ee4ab5bf6a3b2f195; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:02:59.368Z.