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LAX93LA036 · Beech F33A

13 Nov 1992 · Phoenix, AZ, United States

Airline Training Center Beech F33A · Accident: main gear collapsed during takeoff

From Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR) to Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX93LA036
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

Beech F33A

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 33
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
N1553A
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), Goodyear, AZTo Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR)
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
Takeoff · roll/run
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
Main gear collapsed
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

  • Dual student › Gear retraction, premature
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE INSTRUCTOR AND HIS DUAL STUDENT WERE PRACTICING TOUCH AND GO'S. AFTER TOUCH DOWN, THE STUDENT APPLIED POWER AND THEN PREMATURELY MOVED THE LANDING GEAR SELECTOR SWITCH TO THE RETRACT POSITION. THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED AND THE AIRCRAFT SLID INTO SEVERAL AIRPORT TAXIWAY AND RUNWAY SIGNS. THE INSTRUCTOR STATED THAT SOME TIME AGO THE OPERATOR HAD REMOVED THE LANDING GEAR SAFETY DEVICES FROM EACH AIRCRAFT IN THE FLEET, AND THAT ALL OF THE INSTRUCTORS WERE AWARE OF THE PROBLEM. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT SUBSEQUENT TO JUNE OF 1989 THE OPERATOR'S MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT HAD REMOVED THE LANDING GEAR SAFETY DEVICES (SELECTOR LEVER COVER GUARD AND THROTTLE SWITCH) FROM THEIR FLEET. FAA INSPECTORS DISCOVERED THE UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS IN JUNE OF 1992 AND HAD ORDERED THE DEVICES REINSTALLED. THE OPERATOR HAD REINSTALLED THE DEVICES DURING SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE PERIODS ON ALL OF THE FLEET EXCEPT FOR THE ACCIDENT AIRCRAFT.

Probable cause

THE DUAL STUDENTS PREMATURE RETRACTION OF THE LANDING GEAR DURING THE TAKEOFF PORTION OF A TOUCH AND GO, AND, THE INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF THE FLIGHT BY THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE DEACTIVATION OF THE LANDING GEAR SAFETY SYSTEMS BY THE COMPANY MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT AND THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT'S OPERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH KNOWN EQUIPMENT DEFICIENCIES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX93LA036
Event ID
20001211X16063
Case number
LAX93LA036
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: 1ca9c8dde036f5c4742d79b5e776d826b3493ecb3c82b57f4180dfc485118d4e; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:05:12.282Z.