LAX98LA229 · Cessna 310K
Cessna 310K · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Loreto International Airport (MMLT) to Calexico International Airport (CXL)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX98LA229
- 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
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cessna 310K
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 310
- 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
- N6994L
- Operator
- Harold C. Holmes · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Loreto International Airport (MMLT), LoretoTo Calexico International Airport (CXL)
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Landing gear, gear indicating system › Inoperative
- Pilot in command › Gear down and locked, not verified
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, prior to the accident, there was a preexisting problem with the right main landing gear indication light. When the gear was extended, the right main landing gear down light would not illuminate. He stated that an adjustment to the right main landing gear switch was conducted, and 2 days later he left for a flying vacation. No discrepancies were noted with the airplane on the month-long trip. On the return flight, at an intermediate stop prior to the intended destination, the right main landing gear down indication light did not illuminate. The pilot recycled the landing gear, and the right main landing gear down indication light still did not illuminate. The pilot continued the landing with no discrepancies noted. He then flew the airplane to the accident airport. Prior to landing the pilot extended the landing gear, but did not receive a gear down indication from the right main landing gear. He recycled the gear, but the right main landing gear down light did not illuminate. He continued with the landing, and on the landing rollout the right main landing gear collapsed.
Probable cause
The pilot's continued operation of the aircraft with known deficiencies in the landing gear indicating system. A contributing factor to the accident was the pilot's expectation that the gear would be extended and locked irrespective of the indicator lights due to his prior experience with the malfunctioning indicator system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX98LA229
- Event ID
- 20001211X10372
- Case number
- LAX98LA229
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 08257925224cb67f60c25101026b9f126dbc8291b59e2a1135d4c069cab85c4b; retrieved 2026-09-22T17:39:04.878Z.