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LAX91LA277 · Fairchild SA227-AC

11 Jun 1991 · Visalia, CA, United States

Wings West Airlines Fairchild SA227-AC · Accident: gear not extended during landing

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Event

NTSB case
LAX91LA277
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

Fairchild SA227-AC

Aircraft type
Fairchild SA227
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
N348AE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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
Landing · flare/touchdown
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
Gear not extended
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

  • Copilot/second pilot › Checklist, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Crew/group coordination, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Supervision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

THE CERTIFICATED AIRPLANE TRANSPORT PILOT, THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND AND INSTRUCTOR PILOT, WAS CONDUCTING COMPANY TRAINING WITH TWO CAPTAIN CANDIDATES. THE SECOND-IN-COMMAND, A DUAL STUDENT, WAS FLYING FROM THE LEFT SEAT. THE INSTRUCTOR REQUESTED A NO FLAP, SINGLE ENGINE CIRCLING APPROACH, WHICH REQUIRES THAT THE LANDING GEAR NOT BE EXTENDED UNTIL A SAFE LANDING IS ASSURED. THE LANDING GEAR WARNING HORN DID NOT SOUND DUE TO THE POSITION OF THE FLAPS AND ENGINE POWER LEVERS. THE STUDENT MADE A CHECKLIST CALL OUT AT A TIME IN THE LANDING SEQUENCE THAT OCCURS AFTER THE LANDING GEAR IS LOWERED. NEITHER PILOT RECALLED CALLING FOR THE LANDING GEAR DOWN. THE INSTRUCTOR RECALLED NOTING THAT THE STUDENT DID NOT CALL FOR GEAR DOWN. HE STATED THAT HE WAS GIVING THE STUDENT AN OPPORTUNITY TO LOWER THE GEAR WITHOUT BEING PROMPTED TO DO SO. THE AIRPLANE CONTACTED THE RUNWAY WITH THE LANDING GEAR UP, CAUSING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. THE THREE PILOTS WERE NOT INJURED.

Probable cause

THE INSTRUCTOR/PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S FAILURE TO ADEQUATELY SUPERVISE THE FLIGHT AND THE SECOND PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE CHECKLIST AND FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CREW COORDINATION TO ENSURE THAT THE LANDING GEAR WAS EXTENDED. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE SILENCING OF THE LANDING GEAR WARNING HORN BY POSITIONING GO THE ENGINE POWER LEVERS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX91LA277
Event ID
20001212X17327
Case number
LAX91LA277
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: b7a73534373bb16b248ad38ef69c261bc8cc1973292cd9a6ad29b5266786f634; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:05:34.061Z.